Final Destination: Difference between revisions

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{{quote|''"In death there are no accidents, no coincidences, no mishaps, and no escapes."''|'''Bludworth the Coroner''', ''Final Destination''}}

 

Every film in the series follows the same formula: a group of people -- usually teenagers -- leave the scene of an accident that proves fatal for a large number of people, due specifically to a premonition seen by a person who is the reason that the group manages to escape. While this small group survives, they were actually meant to die in the accident; Death sees to it that the survivors end up being killed off in extremely elaborate (and gory) "accidents" as part of a "list" of victims (essentially turning the natural process of death into a supernatural "slasher"). Each film culminates in an attempt from the person who saw the premonition and another person (or two) from the group to "cheat" Death and break its cycle before it can be completed.

 

 

{{quote|'''Clear''': "I've thought a lot about that somewhere, Alex. It exists, that place. Where my dad is still safe. Where he had a full pack of cigarettes that night and just kept driving. Where me and my mom and my dad are still together... and I have no idea about this life here. Where our friends are still in the sky... where everyone gets a second chance. "}}

** Further implied in the opening titles of the second film when a man is shown on television explaining the plot of the first film as it if it were a common occurrence in their reality.

* [[Cassandra Truth]]

* [[Chekhov's Gun]]: Flip-flopped - so many things get set up that it gets so convoluted, and then subverted when something comes straight out of the blue. In fact, [[Genre Savvy|long-time fans]] might start playing "count the way this room could kill you" with each new scene.

* [[Cosmic Plaything]]: All the protagonists.

* [[Crapsack World]]: Death is real and he either [[God Is Evil|hates you]] or [[Cosmic Plaything|thinks your silly attempts to live are amusing]]. Also, because of Death, horrible accidents that involve dozens or even ''hundreds'' of people dying are commonplace.

* [[Do Not Taunt Cthulhu]]

* [[Downer Ending]]: Every movie {{spoiler|save the second one}} ends with {{spoiler|the protagonists dead or in danger of dying}}. The fourth movie goes a step further and {{spoiler|elevates the ''whole series'' into a [[Shaggy Dog Story]] by suggesting the premonitions themselves are part of Death's design, and that all the victims in the series were meant to die outside of the major accidents. Part 5 continues this implication also in two ways: Molly never died at the bridge, she only dies at the end of the film, on Flight 180, which she would never have been on had Sam (the visionary) not survived both the major accidents AND the aftermath; and Nathan, after he switches lives (see below).}}

** Not to mention that the last two survivors of the second movie are killed later. In a wood chipper, just to be particularly sadistic. This is revealed in a DVD extra, though some fans consider this non-canon (despite being supported by [[Word of God]] and a separate picture in part 3 that implies their deaths).

** Part 5. {{spoiler|Nathan finding out the guy he switched lives with would have had an aneurysm "any day now". Then he's nailed by a piece of Flight 180.}}

* [[Driven to Suicide]]: Subverted. You don't die until Death decides you die.

* [[Every Car Is a Pinto]]: The explosion of the plane is a bit too spectacular, really. Not to mention the car crash at the beginning of the second movie, where ''every car blows up''.

** Subverted at the same time with Evan Lewis' original death in the same scene. He actually rams into a rig's gas tank, but his car doesn't explode; he remains ''trapped in the carriage of his car, screaming as he is burning to death''.

** The fourth film takes this to extremes. As if [[Trailers Always Spoil|the commercials weren't bad enough]] Nick has brief images depicting how a character will die just moments before their death.

** Also appears in Part 5. However, {{spoiler|the characters don't ever seem to notice until it's too late.}}

* [[For the Evulz]]: The only adequate explanation for why Death kills survivors so horribly. This is even offered as an explanation in the novelization of the third film, where Wendy also surmises that the reason why no one gets killed while alone is because Death [[Complete Monster|likes having an audience]].

** Except for the dude who won the lottery in the second movie, he was alone when he got his face raped by the fire escape. And also Alex's friend Tod in the first movie, he was alone when he was hung in his shower.

** ''Final Destination'': A crying child and a severely retarded man are on Flight 180.

** {{spoiler|''Final Destination 2'': Tim was going to be younger, but the filmmakers didn't think audiences would appreciate Death gruesomely stalking a kid.}}

* [[It Got Worse]]: ''Everything.''

* {{spoiler|[[Kill'Em All]]: In most of the movies, all the protagonists eventually die.}}

* [[Rube Goldberg Device]]

* [[Rube Goldberg Hates Your Guts]]: And it goes off without a hitch almost every single time. Justified in that it is planned by [[The Grim Reaper|Death]] and he undoubtedly had quite a lot of practice in setting these things up.

* [[Self Fulfilling Prophecies]]: Many of the deaths are caused from this trope. The biggest offenders are {{spoiler|Nora and Tim}} from the second film.

* [[Soundtrack Dissonance]]: So much.

* [[Killed Mid-Sentence]]: Billy Hitchcock, cut off in midrant.

* [[Look Both Ways]]: Terry steps out right in front of a speeding ([[Fridge Logic|and oddly silent]]) bus without even looking once.

** Additionally, all the main characters share names with well-known horror directors.

* [[Murder Water]]: Tod is stalked by a leak from his toilet which follows him around the bathroom until he slips on it, falls into the clothesline, and strangles himself.

* [[Dull Surprise]]: Kimberly didn't seem all that upset when {{spoiler|Rory was sliced up by wires}}. Yet the random civilians around her were shouting or screaming "OH MY GOD!"

* [[Earn Your Happy Ending]]: {{spoiler|Kimberly has the honor of being the only protagonist to escape death's list -- by killing herself and getting revived at a nearby hospital...but then eventually subverted: the DVD extras for the third movie reveal that she and Officer Burke were sucked into a wood chipper between the two movies. The canonicity of that article is dubious, although it is supported by [[Word of God]], and the third film does show a glimpse of them in a picture that implies that they died.}}

* [[Evil Elevator]]: A particularly malevolent example.

* [[Eye Scream]]: [[Tempting Fate|"Jesus Christ, I'm lucky!"]] {{spoiler|Just not lucky enough to avoid getting a fire escape to the eye.}}

'''Nathan''': "NO SHIT!" }}

* [[Continuity Nod]]: There are so many of these including a photo of a character standing next to Car #6 from Part 4, a roller coaster photo from Devil's Flight from Part 3, a character working at Le Cafe Miro 81 from Part 1, a truck carrying wood just as the one from Part 2 when the bus is reaching the bridge, and of course {{spoiler|the opening disaster from Part 1 ending the film.}}

* [[Death by Racism]]: {{spoiler|Isaac.}}

* [[Disproportionate Retribution]]: Sure, Olivia was an insensitive bitch, but she didn't really deserve {{spoiler|to be tortured by [[Frickin' Laser Beams]]}} before she died.

** To be fair/honest, the laser's power wasn't capped at 5mW; there was just a warning sign for the laser to not be operated past 5mW, which the laser goes well beyond before doing its damage.

* [[The Fun in Funeral]]: Dennis announces the much alive Isaac as a victim. [[Hilarity Ensues]].

* [[Half the Man He Used To Be]]: Sam in his vision, {{spoiler|Molly in actuality.}}

* [[He Knows Too Much]]: {{spoiler|Peter murders a federal agent, thus getting his life. Molly tries to get him to back down now that he's going to live, but Peter obviously can't leave a witness if he wants to spend his life anywhere but prison.}}

[[Category:Film Series]]

[[Category:Films of the 2000s]]

[[Category:Film]]