Final Destination 5 - Blu-Ray

Movie: Same game, new blood! The Final Destination series enters its fifth round. And once again, a group of primarily young people are beating the odds in the midst of a catastrophe. And again the survivors are gradually transported to the afterlife in an original way. Who now believes that there are no surprises in the fifth part, is mistaken. Because Final Destination 5 is despite all the familiar set pieces due to some very good elements quite a lot of fun and for fans of the series a real enrichment.

After the plane explosion, the accident on a highway, the bloody roller coaster crash and the car racing disaster, this time it's a collapsing bridge that takes the lives of many people. Only Sam (Nicholas D'Agosto), who had a vision of the bridge collapse while on his way to a company outing, is able to save himself and some of his colleagues. But at the funeral service, the survivors receive a warning from a mysterious undertaker (Tony Todd) that they should take good care of themselves. Because death doesn't like to be messed with. And indeed: already short time later there is the first cruel accident, to which one of Sam's colleagues falls victim. But there is a way to cheat death.

Final Destination 5 is one of the few movies that is considerably more fun in 3D than in the two-dimensional version. The makers use the 3D effect to great effect, especially during the extremely gory death scenes. Especially the bridge incarceration, which is probably one of the most spectacular moments of the entire series, brings the adrenaline to boil in 3D. But even in the 2D Blu-Ray version, the crude effects come off very well, which is why reaching for the 3D disc is a nice addition, but not absolutely necessary.

The rest of the death sequences, which are always very cleverly and also amusingly played with the viewer's expectations, work really well again in the fifth attempt. Of course, the plot is not exactly original and the characters remain pale until the end - which is not too bad, because the viewer has only little time to build up an emotional connection to them anyway. But especially compared to the very weak fourth part, a huge step forward was made in terms of dramaturgy and humor.

What sets part 5 apart from the other parts is the small rule change that there is definitely a way to escape the cold grip of death. While this does turn the horror fun into a bit more thriller, especially in the final third, the bottom line is that this little innovation does the series a lot of good. But it's not this element that leaves fans of the series with a big smile on their face at the end of the movie. The only thing responsible for that is the finale, which is simply brilliant. To reveal more would be an absolute nastiness, especially for fans. Therefore, only so much: loyal Final Destination fans will have a lot more fun here than those viewers who have not yet ventured into this universe.

Who expects nothing really groundbreaking new and simply wants to be entertained by original and partly very effective death scenes, Final Destination 5 can be warmly recommended to alone because of the bridge sequence and the great ending. Worth seeing!

Picture + Sound: The absolutely clean picture convinces with a wide color palette, well-tuned black levels and thus also with a high detail sharpness even in darker scenes. The sound inspires with great surround effects, which come especially during the spectacular bridge collapse to full advantage. But also smaller effects, which contribute significantly to the build-up of tension, are very well and powerfully implemented.

Extras: The bonus offer is unfortunately quite meager. It starts off with the barely 5 minute featurette The Circle of Death, in which the big twist of the film is given away right at the beginning. So watch it only after the movie! It continues with about 10 minutes of alternative death scenes, whereby a large part of the material was already seen in the film and there are only two real alternative sequences to see - which are also much weaker than those in the final cut. Finally, there are two scenes presented as split-screen proceedings. Above, the viewer sees the scene as a pre-visualization or rough cut footage from the shoot without finished effects, then below, the same scene in the finished film. Not completely uninteresting, but also kind of inconsequential.

Conclusion: Final Destination 5, whether in 2D or 3D, is great fun and without question one of the best installments in the series. Even though plot and characters hardly matter, this fifth installment is exciting, entertaining and even really surprising at the end. The 2D Blu-Ray is technically on a very good level, the meager bonus material, however, is more than disappointing. Nevertheless: Fans of the series and lovers of the horror genre can access here confidently.

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp