Movie Review: Final Destination 3

Sooner or later, death is gonna getcha.. what a cheery thought! But, it's the theme of the Final Destination film franchise and the grim reaper is hot on the trail of another tribe of young people who tried to cheat him in Final Destination 3.

It's high school grad night at the local amusement park and Wendy (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) is taking pictures for a memory book. Once on the huge roller coaster, she has...yes, you guessed it.. a premonition that she and her friends will die when the ride derails. Wendy jumps off along with a few other kids but her boyfriend and best gal pal aren't as lucky.

Wendy and her boyfriend's best pal Kevin (Ryan Merriman) realize that the photographs carry warnings of the impending deaths of all those who cheated the grim reaper on the ride and they start trying to figure out the photo clues and save everyone. Of course they are unsuccessful as two ditzy airheads Ashley and Ashlyn (Christal Lowe and Chelan Simmons) get fried, and death claims other friends Ian (Kris Lemche) his girlfriend Carrie (Gina Holden), silly Frankie (Sam Easton), and jock Lewis (Texas Battle), in a series of creative, domino-effect "accidents" in the order in which the kids were seated on the coaster. Can the dynamic duo even save themselves?

First it was a plane crash, then a carnage-soaked interstate pile-up, now it's a runaway roller coaster that starts the death ball rolling. Not as darkly funny as the original and not quite as stunt elaborate as the second film, Final Destination 3 still packs a lot of creative, "I can't believe that happened" kinds of deaths and that's what you go to a film like this to get a kick out of. Mary and Ryan are actually good in their parts, especially Mary who somehow makes us care although there are plot holes and logic flaws surrounding almost everything her character does.

The action moves along at a good pace and the addition of the photographs filled with clues is a useful one. Warning: The film is rated R for, of course gore and some partial nudity (remember the two airhead girls?) so make your filmgoing choice accordingly. If you get a kick and more laughs than horror out of these films, then Final Destination 3 will provide a little of both.

For more creative ways to off a teenager.. 3.5 out of 5 stars

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Lynn Barker is a Hollywood-based entertainment journalist and produced screenwriter.