Final Destination 2

Directed by David R. Ellis, Final Destination 2 follows a series of characters, including A.J. Cook’s Kimberly Corman and Michael Landes’ Thomas Burke, as they’re picked off one by one after surviving a deadly highway accident. Filmmaker Ellis, working from J. Mackye Gruber and Eric Bress’ screenplay, does a fantastic job of initially capturing the viewer’s interest and attention, as Final Destination 2 kicks off with a thrilling and completely engrossing opening sequence that ultimately stands as the movie’s high-water-mark – with the picture, beyond that point, seguing into a hit-and-miss midsection that’s occasionally just a little too preoccupied with exploring and expanding the series’ rather complex mythology. It’s clear, then, that the film benefits quite substantially from an ongoing emphasis on predictably over-the-top and appreciatively brutal set-pieces, including a fantastic interlude in which a character is eventually impaled by a retractable ladder, and there’s little doubt, as well, that the action-packed climax, which is capped off with an entertainingly mean-spirited finale, ensures that the whole thing concludes on a rather memorable note – which does, in the end, cement Final Destination 2‘s place as a solid entry within an impressively consistent franchise.

*** out of ****