"Kimberly (A.J. Cook) has a premonition of a horrible highway accident killing multiple people -- including her and her friends. She blocks the cars behind her on the ramp from joining traffic -- and as a police trooper (Michael Landes) arrives, the accident actually happens. Now, Death is stalking this group of mistaken survivors -- and one by one they are dying as they were supposed to on the highway."
This film was actually the first of the franchise that I had watched, and I had little idea of what the movie was about prior to viewing it; I had bought the DVD cheap as an ex-rental from a Video and DVD store. The opening scene was carnage-filled and gory, with more action in the first five minutes than most films have in their entirety, and from that moment on I was hooked. The opening scene is so traumatic and the potential feels so likely that I still know many people that still refuse to drive directly behind a logging truck.
For those unfamiliar with Final Destination franchise, the plot revolves around someone getting a vision of a deadly event and prevents it from occurring. At which point "Death" tries to put things right by killing off the characters that should not be alive. It is this latter part of the plot that actually makes Final Destination a slasher film franchise; while Death is not a physical being (and many slasher flicks do have a supernatural theme to them anyway) the way in which each character in this group are stalked and killed off one by one, is pretty much the definition of a slasher film.
Having since seen all of the other Final Destination films, I can definitely say that this second part actually has the most creative (but not over-the-top) deaths, and the level of gore and (effectively) torture porn will likely appeal to many horror fans. This film does differentiate itself from its predecessor in a couple of ways. Firstly, this is the first film where Death leaves clues after the initial vision, alerting the group of how they may die. It is a fun aspect of the movie, as it keeps you guessing. Everyone sees the clues, but trying to figure out how it relates to a possibly deadly scenario, it keeps the viewers engaged. It does however also have a negative component to it, where foreshadowing the method of death does remove a lot of the tension and potential suspense.
The second way that this film differs, in that is doesn't really spend any time developing the characters at all. This is when the franchise changed from an interesting supernatural murder mystery to a film where every character is nothing but meat for the grinder. No purpose but to be killed in creative ways. The clearly diverse group of victims made no difference to the overall plot, but I loved watching the diverse ways that these accidents occurred.
One consistent part of the plot in each of these Final Destination films is the characters trying to figure out what is going on. And to be honest, that part is certainly overused in this film, as it is just constantly recapping the previous film. It felt like filler and could have been done in a much more concise way.
It is what it is though. This is a film that gets to show a group of characters dying horrifically, twice, and it makes the most of this premise to be as creative as possible. The long-lasting hesitation around fire stairwells, logging trucks, and elevators tells you more about the impact of this film than anything else. Enjoy the glorious gore and the hidden health and safety message within!