Movie review: 'Final Destination 5'

August 17, 2012 at 9:08PM
Jacqueline MacInnes Wood and Nicholas D'Agosto try to escape fate in "Final Destination 5."
"Final Destination 5" (Margaret Andrews — Warner Bros./The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Nothing in life is certain but death and sequels. Make that sequels about death -- teen-oriented exploitation movies in which generic young actors meet their fates in a series of gruesome, occasionally suspenseful scenes. More playful than the likes of "Friday the 13th," the "Final Destination" offered something new. The villain isn't a nasty, mask-wearing man; it's fate itself, a sense that the physical world is loaded with inevitable death. The latest isn't as novel -- or as fun --as the earlier installments, but it gets the job done. Even by this franchise's standards, it's perverse that a pointy, one-centimeter-long screw, standing point-up on a gymnast's balance beam, should provide more tension than anything else here. The thrills taper off pretty consistently from there, though. (Rated R.)

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