I've been a huge fan of the Final Destination franchise since I was a kid because it's so much fun to watch, even as an adult.
So... After a 14 year hiatus, what do I think of Final Destination Bloodlines?
do I think it recaptures the essence of the franchise?...in short, yes
this movie is the essence of The Final Destination...unique deaths, unusual characters, silliness, that's it.
I haven't watched or seen much of the promotion for this movie because I wanted to watch it without seeing anything, so I'm honestly kind of intrigued by this "bloodline" concept
Like what if you cheated death, but you already have kids and grandkids? what would the "death design" be, what would the order be, etc...it turned out to be simpler than I thought but it makes sense.
so basically if you have kids and grandkids, you die first, then the oldest kid and their kids from oldest to youngest, then the second kid and so on.
this movie also gives a reasonable reason why death only happens now after all this time. because the basic story is quite easy to understand and adds some interesting rules of death.
I thought this movie would develop this concept further, but that's all they developed. then this movie is basically like a general final destination:
you get a premonition/signs
death carries out its plan
it causes the character to die or you can save them
repeat
in the previous movie, although death is invincible, but sometimes our character can escape death whether intentionally or not... well indeed death will target you again after the cycle ends and will start again from the sequence of survivors, but at least our character can buy time and have a chance to survive.
and this movie? not like that... the death plan here is very smooth because every time there is a scenario from a character who should die, they will eventually die anyway even though they tried.... whether death is the way out or the character is just... stupid... well it doesn't make the movie worse for me, but it certainly makes the movie much funnier.
until act 3, they make a plan to stay at their grandma's cabin because they assume that "grandma's cabin is a safe place".
i'm really confused how they could think like that... and of course... when they open the cabin door... the cabin explodes.... i laughed out loud in my seat.
it's been a while since i've rewatched their old movies, but i think in terms of tone, Bloodlines is the least serious and comedic. not only are the deaths pretty funny, but the movie always breaks up serious or emotional moments with sudden deaths or jokes.
although the movie has a theme about family and trying to make amends for leaving family. i think this could be really good if they developed it or even made our characters likable for example.
for the character performances, i think they're all good, none of them are weak in my opinion. our mc is also the least likable.
back to my point about "failed plans", i think stef as a visionary has the weakest ability compared to the visionaries in the previous movies.
Image Source: Movie poster when I watched it in the cinema
