while alex browning ( devon sawa ) waits at jfk to leave for a school trip to paris , bad omens seem to surround him .
as soon as he buckles into the plane , he has a vision of the plane exploding seconds after take-off .
when the vision begins to come true , alex bolts for the door , dragging several students and a teacher in his wake .
the plane takes off without them and explodes just as alex predicted .
he becomes an object of fear and suspicion among the community , and the tension only increases as the survivors begin to die .
alex and another survivor , clear rivers ( ali larter ) , investigate the suspicious ” suicide ” of a friend , and a mortician ( tony ” candyman ” todd ) clues them in to the truth : alex interrupted death’s design by saving people who should have died in the explosion , and death will want to claim its rightful victims .
in order to save himself and the others , alex will have to figure out death’s new plan and thwart it .
of the countless horror films that have competed for a piece of the ” scream ” audience , ” final destination ” is the best so far .
talented young screenwriter jeffrey reddick offers a fresh variation on a familiar formula .
we’ve seen hundreds of movies where a group of teenagers are murdered one-by-one by a faceless slasher , but reddick cuts out the hockey-masked middle-man and makes the villain death itself .
first-time feature director james wong made the most of that premise .
every scene is permeated with creepiness and foreboding , reminding us that death is everywhere , can come at anytime .
everyday objects and events vibrate with menace .
the most amusing harbinger of doom : john denver’s ” rocky mountain high , ” which is played several times in the movie before someone dies .
( the link is that denver died in a plane crash , and the song includes a line about fire in the sky . )
the performances are stronger than those usually elicited by teen horror .
devon sawa , who previously starred in another horror flick , ” idle hands , ” gives a frantic and convincing lead performance .
kerr smith is carter hogan , an antagonist of alex’s whose quick temper causes him to pulled off the fatal plane .
smith plays carter as filled with anger and confusion that constantly threatens to bubble over into violence .
seann william scott , who’s also in theaters right now in ” road trip , ” plays the somewhat dim billy hitchcock and provides a needed counterpoint to the intensity of alex and carter .
tony todd’s one-scene cameo is delicious but all too brief .
bottom line : watchable teen fright flicks are few and far between , but this destination is worth visiting .