After a two-day marathon of all Final Destination films, what have I learned? That this franchise is as middling as I remembered it being. On the other hand, the downward trajectory that I remember this series having wasn’t exactly the case. I believe three is better than the first two, if only marginally. And four is one of the worst studio horror films out there. Then there’s five. I remembered Final Destination 5 being fairly bad, even as it leans more heavily into the humor (which I find a better option in the case of this series than going in the other direction). Perhaps I was a bit wrong.

The long opening sequence of Final Destination 5 does not look particularly good. Every about-to-be cadaver looks like a hunk of plastic moments before being sliced, diced, and pitched off the suspension bridge. But it is relatively exciting when compared to most of the franchise’s premonition sequences. I still think the second film takes the cake (do I sound like a broken record yet?) when it comes to the construction and aesthetic of events, but this fifth attempt is quite fun.

It helps a lot that the script takes the time to establish personalities for the principal characters. It takes 20 minutes before the busload of corporate coworkers avoid catastrophic death and get off the bridge. This is because the film cares enough to lay a foundation of character and tone (this one is a full-on comedy, and it knows how to be one). Compare this to the previous installment, which takes roughly 30 seconds to establish that one side character is a douchebag before everything explodes and people start dying.

The main character who serves as our seer into the future, Sam (Nicholas D’Agosto), is a bit of a stiff. But he is provided at least the bare minimum of character motivation with a fraught romantic relationship. And the characters who populate his workplace are varied enough in personality to make their individual arcs toward death fun.

Without a doubt, I think Final Destination 5 is the superior entry in this franchise. It returns to the set piece structuring from the first film that made this a viable franchise to begin with. Instead of simply random incidents causing characters to mysteriously and suddenly die, the event of death is constructed carefully and with an eye for ironic humor, clever misdirection, and grisly glimpses of violence. The gymnastics set piece is a highlight of the franchise, in that it centers so firmly around an upturned screw that the tension that is produced as a result functions as quality humor in itself.

The best part of this final (until now) film in the series is that it actually attempts to do something new and interesting with its central conceit. Every film in this series goes through the exact same narrative beats. Without fail, they are all identical. The first act establishes a bunch of characters, one of whom sees a vision of a horrible accident. The act ends with one of the survivors dying in a freak accident. In the second act, the main 1-2 characters start to realize that something weird is going on and that the survivors are being targeted. A few more deaths happen, before the protagonist(s) attempt to “break the cycle.” They do, either right before or during the climax, and then the resolution provides the ironic twist that breaking the cycle is not enough. Death is inevitable. Large object careens towards our protagonists. Cut to credits, cue the dad rock.

In Final Destination 5, the climax goes for something different, and it is a refreshing change of pace. Also, it is a shift that works because the film did the bare minimum of character development to motivate its characters to act in certain ways (this is more than can be said for most of these films). As for the film’s final “twist,” I don’t think it has a lot of juice. But also, why not go for it? There’s no harm.

In closing, here is my recommendation for this series. Watch Final Destination. If you like it, keep watching in order (and maybe skip The Final Destination). If you think it’s just OK, then skip to Final Destination 3, and then watch Final Destination 5. You’ll have an alright time. Or you won’t. None of these films are mind-blowing.

Final Destination 5: B-

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As always, thanks for reading!

—Alex Brannan (Letterboxd, Facebook)