Review of Final Destination

Introduction

In my recent review of the second season of The X Files, you might have spotted me waxing lyrical about Glen Morgan and James Wong, who were some of the best writers/producers/directors on the show. They went on to work on plenty of other projects, including Space: Above and Beyond - their own series - a futuristic sci-fi show in the Starship Troopers vein, and Millenium, Chris Carter`s first doomed project after The X Files.

And later they went on to make Final Destination. The writer originally submitted the story as a potential X File, but it was turned down. How interesting that it then ends up in the hands of Morgan and Wong as a story for the big screen. And it certainly has the feeling of an X File at various points, with some of the effects and in-jokes reminding you of Morgan and Wong`s days with the show.

Video

An excellent 1.85:1 anamorphic transfer, with no problems detected. In another X Files parallel, Vancouver manages to pass itself off as America and beyond once more. Morgan and Wong have worked in rainy Vancouver for a long while and various locations prove to be very credibly American.

Quite a few special effects as you would expect for this sort of film, and they are all very good. There are model shots mixed with live action mixed with computer generated stuff. There`s even some really lo-tech stuff like pulling leaves along on pieces of string. It all holds together well and helps to draw you into the film.

Audio

A DD5.1 soundtrack, which whilst being technically competent doesn`t really produce the goods that you might expect. There are some good set pieces which in which sound plays a big part, but the soundtrack generally ambles along and doesn`t draw you in quite as well as it perhaps should. There`s nothing wrong with it, dialogue is audible at all times and it all sounds fine, it just felt a bit of a let down.

Features

A disc that`s packed with extras too. You`ll find deleted scenes (easy to spot why they were deleted - there`s also an alternate ending in there), a mini-featurette which concentrates on the work of the producers and the importance of test screenings (you`ll see the deleted footage again, along with some explanations of why it was cut), and the trailer which seems to spoil some of the good bits of the film, so keep away until you`ve watched it. Biographies are also on offer from another menu option.

You`ll also find a brief documentary on premonitions, which tells the story of one woman who uses her psychic powers to help find missing people or help police with certain cases, and also some games, which test your psychic ability and predict when you will die(!)

To wrap things up you`ll also find a full length commentary featuring Morgan and Wong, plus the original writer and another producer. It seems to be more a case of 3 commentary tracks stitched into 1, with Morgan and Wong being the most interesting of the commentators on offer. There`s plenty of background to the film, they point out lots of in-jokes that you will have missed, they explain how shots were composed and more besides. Very interesting indeed and worth listening to if you enjoyed the film.

Conclusion

I`ve talked quite a bit about The X Files during this review, and that`s really because Final Destination is like a big screen X File - not one of the rambling mythology episodes where Chris Carter ties himself up in ever-decreasing knots, but one of the good ones from the earlier seasons. The fact that the story was originally submitted to the show, and that two of the best staff from the show have brought it to the big screen just add to the connections.

Final Destination is entertaining, full of interesting ideas and holds together well. The DVD is very good, with excellent picture and good sound, and a reasonable package of extras to keep you coming back for more. If you`re looking to buy, be warned that the region 1 version contains 2 extra commentary tracks if that`s your sort of thing.

Very highly recommended for X Files fans everywhere, and also for fans of "modern horrors" like "Scream" and "I Know What You Did" - you`ll find plenty here to entertain you. And rest assured that if you didn`t like those films then this one is much better than they were.