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  • Canister X Movie Review #122: Final Destination 2 (2003)

    Final Destination 2 (2003)

    Final Destination 2
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    Final Destination 2 (2003)
    Written by J. Mackye Gruber and Eric Bress
    Directed by David R. Ellis
    Runtime 90 min.
    4 out of 5

    After Kimberly Corman (A.J. Cook) has a premonition about a massive series of car accidents on the highway she and her friends are on, she pulls her car over. A cop, Thomas Burke (Michael Landes), comes up to her and asks why she’s blocking traffic. She says there’s going to be a huge accident and, sure enough, events begin to unfold on Highway 180 . . . but without them in it unlike in her vision. The cop goes to alert other emergency personnel. An oncoming truck heads right for Kim’s car. Kim escapes but her friends are killed. Yet others—who had died in the multiple wrecks in Kim’s vision—also survive.

    Soon, the survivors are all together. Except one by one Death comes for them, making things as they should be, restoring order and bringing his agenda of who dies and when back under his control.

    To try and stop the cycle before it’s too late, Kim seeks out a survivor from the first movie—Clear Rivers (Ali Larter)—and Clear takes command, explaining why people are dying and how to save themselves.

    If they believe her.

    Shock, gore and suspense are what this movie is all about.

    I got to tell you, this movie had me biting my nails all the way through. After the *ahem* blood settled and we knew who the major players were, I was gripping my seat because very quickly they slowly begin to die. And not just, oh, they die slowly—but in that step-by-step, cause-and-effect way that is the Final Destination franchise’s hallmark. These movies are very much about the Butterfly Effect, and the way the tension is created as you wait for someone to be a goner is pure gold.

    I loved the creative ways folks died in the movie. No clear-cut, bang-you’re-dead stuff here. Just pure strange ways of checking out. The most creative, I thought, was when that kid got squished by a falling sheet of glass. Didn’t see that coming, and the way he folded in half is burned in my memory. Likewise when the barb-wired fence dices Rory (Jonathan Cherry) into pieces. Who comes up with this stuff?

    The only thing that got under my skin was Clear’s constantly talking about “Death’s design.” Okay. We get it. He has a design. Move on. I don’t need to hear you using that phrase a thousand times in the movie.

    This flick has a permanent place in my DVD collection.

    Recommended.


  • Canister X Movie Review #121: Resident Evil: Extinction (2007)

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    Click Here to Order from Amazon.com
    Resident Evil: Extinction (2007)
    Written by Paul W.S. Anderson
    Directed by Russell Mulcahy
    Runtime 94 min.
    5 out of 5

    Alice (Milla Jovovich) wanders the Nevada desert alone, flying under the radar of the Umbrella Corporation.

    It’s been five years since the deadly T-virus outbreak. The world is all but in shambles. Alice believes that only Alaska is the last safe place on Earth. An old journal she found with a six-month-old radio transcription told her so.

    On her journey, Alice comes across a small caravan of survivors headed up by Claire (Ali Larter) that also happens to be carrying along some old friends: Slater (Matthew Marsden) and L.J. (Mike Epps).

    She convinces them to head north to Alaska, and so they embark, fighting off the dead at every turn, even undead crows that have been transformed from feasting on zombie flesh.

    Dr. Isaacs (Iain Glen) wants Alice back under his control as he focuses on perfecting her as a weapon against the undead. Except, once Alice catches on, she manages to disable their system of control over her and escapes with Claire and the others.

    All hope lost, and having been bitten by one of the dead himself, Dr. Isaacs uses the antivirus on himself . . . but in a different way, creating a result neither he nor Alice expected.

    It’s ultra crazy good and suspenseful action horror in this third installment in the Resident Evil series.

    Wow. I mean, man oh man, I love this movie. So, so good. I’m a sucker for roadside horror and sleepy towns. This movie has both. The zombies? Pure gruesome since most of them have been rotting for five years as they wander around devouring the rest of the living.

    The zombie crows were a nice touch. So, so many of them. Swarms. That’s the thing I always tell people about zombies. One zombie’s not so bad. Get a whole mess of them together and they’re scary as all get out. Same for zombie crows. There was enough here to turn the sky black. Freaky.

    The development of Alice’s powers was cool and though her telekinesis might seem kind of outlandish to some, it’s portrayed well here and done with the utmost seriousness and not used as a cop-out to get her out of a jam.

    I felt bad for her as well when she saw all those clones of herself rotting out in the desert sun. That’d be heartbreaking, upsetting and angering for anyone. I’m glad she gave Dr. Isaacs his due.

    The ending raises a ton of questions for the forthcoming Resident Evil: Afterlife. I’m eager to see how they deal with that army of Alices without it coming off goofy or repetitive.

    This movie’s score was also spectacular, the hard beat of the drums and dark, raunchy guitar giving it a very awesome grittiness that adds to the whole post-apocalyptic feel.

    Check this flick out. It’s hardcore, loaded with gore and just down right fantastic.

    Recommended.