DESTINO FINAL 5

Sam, su exnovia Molly y sus compañeros de trabajo están de viaje en un autobús hacia una convención organizada por su empresa, Presage. Mientras atraviesan un puente, Sam tiene una visión en la que se le anuncia el catastrófico colapso de la estructura que causará su muerte y la de cientos de otras personas. Preso del pánico, Sam baja del autobús detenido en la cola y advierte a los demás pasajeros del posible peligro arrastrando consigo a Molly. Algunos de ellos le hacen caso y lo siguen, y como en la premonición, el puente se derrumba causando una miríada de víctimas. Pero los supervivientes del accidente comienzan a morir en circunstancias misteriosas en el orden en que salían de escena en la visión de Sam: ¡la Muerte ha regresado para saldar cuentas! Desde 2000, la Muerte regresa puntualmente cada tres años para recuperar a quienes, por un extraño giro del destino, han logrado escapar de su vigilante y despiadada guadaña. Tras el gran éxito de "The Final Destination 3D", cuarto capítulo y primera vez en estereoscopia, se rompe la periodicidad de tres años entre una película y otra, y se pone inmediatamente en marcha un quinto capítulo, obviamente también en 3D. ¿Resultado? "Final Destination 5" sorprende siendo uno de los mejores capítulos de una saga que, aunque siempre bastante divertida, en los últimos dos capítulos comenzaba a mostrar una preocupante falta de vigor. Digámoslo claramente: tras el decepcionante "The Final Destination 3D", en el que se jugaba a la sustracción eliminando cualquier mínima apariencia narrativa a favor del único ornamento del 3D, no se podía esperar gran cosa, conscientes también del estatus casi de película instantánea que el quinto capítulo había asumido. Sin embargo, New Line ha aprendido de los errores cometidos y ha creado un producto que, además de ser rápido, divertido, increíblemente sangriento y grotesco, también añade elementos a la mecánica narrativa trillada y repetida. La historia es siempre la misma, las mismas personas que escaparon de un desastre colectivo tras una premonición de uno de ellos, que uno a uno salen de escena de las maneras más improbables posibles, reclamados por la Muerte en persona. Prácticamente la pesadilla de cualquier guionista, llamado a hacer interesante una historia delgada, esquemática y ya contada cuatro veces en los últimos 10 años sin la posibilidad de salir demasiado de los carriles preestablecidos. Eric Heisserer, a quien ya le había tocado the unfortunate task of updating "Nightmare" with the recent remake and "La Cosa" with the upcoming prequel, performs miracles and, while telling the same story for the fifth time, adds new elements, creates a pleasant connection with the first film, and even manages to give the characters a bit of depth. This time there is a way to escape Death, and it is not the overtaking postulated in the first and third films, but a definitive salvation (at least until the next, in the best cases, distant moment of departure). The price to pay is high, but a way to outwit Death exists, and this manages to give the story that "quid" that makes it more original and engaging than the previous ones, since this time the scheme can be modified and the countdown of deaths is not so predictable. The way the film manages to place itself within the saga as a precise piece of a mosaic is another point in its favor that gives coherence to an overall narrative that still has more dark points. The characters of this "Final Destination 5" are not the usual teenagers who have populated this saga (especially in the first and third films), but rather a heterogeneous group of people, colleagues, who seem to want to reflect in their composition the attempt already experimented in "Final Destination 2", to date the most successful chapter of the saga. The characters and personalities are basic and never go into depth, but still manage with a few elements to characterize most of them in a fairly convincing way, so as to at least make the characters distinguishable and empathize with some of them. Furthermore, just as happened with the second film, elements of grotesque humor are inserted that reach their peak in the character of Isaac and especially in his "moment" in the massage center. Of course, a lot of emphasis is placed on the strange and original deaths that can surprise and give way to blood and entrails to spread as much as possible. In this regard, it is especially the accident of the first victim, the gymnast, that remains well impressed in the viewer's mind, managing to secure one of the top spots in an ideal ranking of the best deaths in the saga. The initial accident on a suspension bridge also surprises positively. Surely, it is the most spectacular of the entire saga and competes with the chain collision on the highway of the second film as the best in absolute terms. And here we must also recognize some merit to Steven Quale, a nearly debuting director after a long apprenticeship as an assistant to James Cameron, who handles both the spectacularity of the action scenes and the construction of suspense excellently. The experience as an assistant to Cameron in "Avatar" and the direction of the documentary "Aliens of the Deep" will surely have been worth it for the management of native 3D, which in this "Final Destination 5" works very well. As happened in the previous chapter, here too 3D is used not only for the boring depth effect that more and more often gives us the impression of investing poorly the price difference compared to the 2D movie ticket. But 3D does its job especially for the dear old amusement park games in which objects of all kinds (including organic fluids and tripe of all kinds) rain down on the viewer, thus giving genuineness back to stereoscopy for what it was originally created for. In the cast of illustrious unknowns — as per the rule — stand out the semi-known faces of Nicholas D'Agosto, whom someone may remember among the protagonists of the second season of "Heroes", and Emma Bell, already a protagonist of "Frozen" and among the characters of the first season of "The Walking Dead". Furthermore, Tony Todd also returns to wear for the third time the mephistophelian robes of the coroner who "knows something about Death's plans", this time with a slightly more substantial space for his character. In short, "Final Destination 5" surprisingly works and allows the viewer to enjoy 90 minutes of sure entertainment. Absolutely recommended for fans of the saga.