Final Destination 3 (2006)★★★☆☆

So we’re getting to the point in the franchise where I start to wonder…is there a point to the franchise? There’s nothing new here.

While it’s vaguely reminiscent of the Saw franchise in that the appeal is largely in the intricate death scenes, this franchise seems to be marketed towards a completely different target audience.

The Saw franchise is torture porn, through and through, but somehow the Final Destination franchise feels more about survival than torture. The stars of these films are the ones trying to make it out – see the other side of “death’s design” as they call it.

It feels more hopeful, which is interesting because the antagonist of the Saw franchise ostensibly did what he did in order to give folks a new appreciation for life, whereas the antagonist of this franchise is, well, death. Somehow this franchise better represents the fight to survive even though this antagonist has no deeper intent than the death of…everyone on its list, I suppose.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that despite the lack of originality and novelty of tonight’s movie, I’m still looking forward to tomorrow night’s. Despite its complete lack of Mary Elizabeth Winstead.