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| There are two things in life which, try as you might, you
simply cannot avoid. One of these is the horror sequel, and the other is
death itself. In 'Final Destination 2', they both meet in a head-on collision.
The film is, like its predecessor, an ingenious stalk-and-slash film without
the stalker. There is no Damien Thorne, no Michael Myres, no Jason Vorhees,
no Freddie Krueger - just death working in its mysterious way, and a very
high body count.
In the first film, a group of teenagers and teachers cheat death by narrowly avoiding a midair explosion on an aeroplane, only to meet their deferred ends in an escalating series of freak accidents. The second film does not deviate much from the original's formula, but more than makes up for this by ratcheting up the macabre misadventures and spectacular set-pieces. On a roadtrip to Daytona, Kimberly Corman (A.J. Cook) has a vivid premonition of a lethal pile-up. She intervenes to save a number of drivers from their doom, but before you can say 'death comes a-knocking', the survivors start to die in extravagantly bizarre accidents. Eye-gougings, crushed skulls, decapitations, impalings, disembowelments - this film has them all and more, with a loving attention to detail guaranteed to satisfy any gorehound. As death reclaims those about her one by one, Kimberly must race against time, enlisting the help of the only survivor from the previous film (Ali Larter), and of an enigmatic mortician (Tony Todd, of 'Candyman' fame). I cannot overstate how daftly enjoyable this film is. If you like big, brassy scenes of mayhem, an ominous sense of the supernatural, and a wickedly dark vein of humour, then put your brain on hold, and drool with pleasure at the absurdist terror that is 'Final Destination 2'. As inevitable as death, but much more fun. Anton Bitel, 6.02.03 |
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