Final Destination 2 *** (2003, Ali Larter, A J Cook, Tony Todd, Michael Landes) – Classic Movie Review 3,992

Second unit director and stunt coordinator David R Ellis’s 2003 teen chiller sequel Final Destination 2 was a second hit but even so the lowest-grossing film in the franchise. Ali Larter returns from part one as Clear Rivers but Devon Sawa is killed off.

And here in Final Destination 2 is director David R Ellis’s expected 2003 sequel to the hit 2000 teen chiller, Final Destination, which took $53 million at the US box office and $112,880,294 overall. Final Destination 2 took  $46,961,214 at the US box office and $90.9 million overall, making it the lowest-grossing film in the franchise. Yet the cost was only $26 million, making it a second hit.

Death again stalks another bunch of scared young folk in this grisly but expertly staged sequel. This time it’s a girl, Kimberly Corman (A J Cook), who has the premonition that saves people’s lives, until the survivors again start to die one by one. An uncomfortable Ali Larter returns from part one as Clear Rivers, the heroine who has locked herself up in a mental hospital to try to evade the arrival of inevitable Death, and the movie is a reasonable thrill ride of great stunts and shocks. Tony Todd also resumes his character from part one as mortician William Bludworth.

Final Destination 2 is highlighted by one or two absolutely brilliantly staged sequences, especially the bravura opening car crash and a The Birds-like attack on a kid (James N Kirk) going to the dentist. The movie is directed by a stuntman, so you just know the stunts are going to be top rate. However, perhaps they should have got someone else to direct the actors, who seem uneasy and uninspired, and maybe one or two of them could profitably have been recast.

Also in the cast are Michael Landes, David Paetkan, Lynda Boyd, Keegan Connor Tracy, T C Carson, Justina Machado, Tony Todd, Sarah Carter, Alex Rae, Andrew Airlie, Eileem Pedde, Jill Krop, Don Bell, Odessa Munroe, Benita Ha, Aaron Douglas and Fred Henderson.

The screenplay is by J Mackye Gruber and Eric Bress, based on a story by Gruber, Bress and series creator Jeffrey Reddick, based originally on his spec script Flight 180 intended for use on TV’s The X-Files.

Final Destination 2 was filmed in Canada in Vancouver and Okanagan Lake in British Columbia, and released on 31 January 2003, and on DVD on 22 July 2003,

This one did nearly as well as the original, taking $46 million at the US box office and $43 million elsewhere, though that was $22 million less than the original, and made it the lowest-grossing Final Destination film.

Three more sequels followed: Final Destination 3 (2006), The Final Destination (2009) and Final Destination 5 (2011). In August 2023, series creator Jeffrey Reddick confirmed a sixth film was going into production as Final Destination 6: Bloodlines once the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike ends.

The main cast of Final Destination 2.

After the first film’s success, New Line Cinema head of production Toby Emmerich asked Jeffrey Reddick to come up with a sequel. Reddick said he ‘wanted to expand on the mythology and not just tell the same story over again.’

Part one’s writers James Wong and Glen Morgan weren’t available as they had signed on for other films: The One and Willard. So second unit director and stunt coordinator David R Ellis and writing partners Eric Bress and J Mackye Gruber were hired instead.

The first film’s main character Alex Browning (played by Devon Sawa) is killed off-screen in the film. He is much missed. Producer Craig Perry said: ‘It had everything to do with narrative, and nothing to do with money or Devon’s unwillingness to come back.’

The cast are Ali Larter as Clear Rivers, A J Cook as Kimberly Corman, Michael Landes as Thomas Burke, David Paetkau as Evan Lewis, James Kirk as Tim Carpenter, Lynda Boyd as Nora Carpenter, Keegan Connor Tracy as Kat Jennings, Jonathan Cherry as Rory Peters, T C Carson as Eugene Dix, Justina Machado as Isabella Hudson, Tony Todd as William Bludworth, Sarah Carter as Shaina McKlank, Alex Rae as Dano Estevez, Shaun Sipos as Frankie Whitman, Andrew Airlie as Michael Corman, Noel Fisher as Brian Gibbons, Benita Ha as Jean, Aaron Douglas as Deputy Steve Adams, Eric Keenleyside as Detective Suby, Enid-Raye Adams as Dr Ellen Kalarjian, Fred Henderson as Dr Lees, Alf Humphreys as Mr Gibbons, and Chilton Crane as Mrs Gibbons.

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 3,992

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