***One of the best of the franchise, if not THE best***

The first "Final Destination" movie in 2000 was a rather innovative 'Dead Teenager Movie' in that the killer was Death itself, an invisible spirit. A group of people, mostly youths, escape a great tragedy due to a premonition of one of them and the rest of the movie involves the Grim Reaper systematically slaying the kids who cheated Death in various creative ways, usually an unlikely chain of events. The opening tragedy in the first film was a plane crash, in the second a highway pile-up, in the third a rollercoaster mishap, in the fourth a racetrack calamity. In this fifth and most recent film (2011) it’s a spectacular bridge collapse and it’s probably the best opening tragedy of the franchise.

All of the movies in the series tell the same basic story with different characters and minor nuances; all of them are of the same high quality of technical filmmaking. Whether you prefer one or another depends on your preference for cast members and the death sequences (and the locations). Other than these factors they're all basically the same.

"Final Destination 5" features Nicholas D'Agosto as the main protagonist with Emma Bell as his blonde girlfriend. Tom Cruise lookalike, Miles Fisher, is also on hand while Ellen Wroe plays the gymnast. Meanwhile Tony Todd returns as the creepy coroner who seems to know more about the situation than he should.

While it’s true that you know exactly how this film will play out if you've seen the first four installments, or any of them, there are some highlights beyond the females. For one, this movie has a superb score and soundtrack, at least on par with the previous installment. Aside from featuring the most thrilling opening tragedy, there are several creative death scenes involving a gymnast accident, an Asian spa, eye surgery, a factory mishap and a restaurant altercation. This entry also throws in a unique twist that I’m not going to give away (but if you’ve seen the trailer you already know what it is). There’s an additional surprise at the end, which nicely wraps up the five-movie franchise.

The film runs 92 minutes and, like the first three films, was shot in the Vancouver area (the fourth film was shot in the East).

GRADE: B+