Final Destination 5 Blu-ray Review
Score: 62
from 2 reviewers
Review Date:
Final Destination 5 features standout moments, top-notch effects, and a demo-worthy audio/visual presentation, but lacks impactful special features.
Disc Release Date
DTS-HD MA
Video: 63
Final Destination 5 on Blu-ray showcases a slick 1080p/AVC-encoded video transfer in a 2.40:1 aspect ratio with vivid reds, lifelike skin tones, and deep blacks. The fine textures and consistent contrast are marred minimally by fleeting artifacting and aliasing. Overall, a detailed and engaging high-definition presentation.
Audio: 78
With Warner's English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track, 'Final Destination 5' delivers a meticulously detailed and immersive sound experience, featuring clear dialogue, dynamic LFE output, seamless channel imaging, and terrifyingly vivid effects that heighten every gruesome scene.
Extra: 36
The Blu-ray extras for 'Final Destination 5' fall short, offering repetitive alternate death scenes, a spoiler-filled 'Circle of Death,' and underwhelming VFX split-screens without insightful commentary.
Movie: 56
Final Destination 5 offers inventively gruesome deaths and superior special effects, yet fails to advance the series' mythos or character depth, sticking to a worn formula. Though it introduces a kill-or-be-killed twist and a surprising ending, it largely depends on predictable setups and overblown spectacles.
Video: 63
'Final Destination 5' achieves a commendable 1080p/AVC-encoded video transfer that resonates with the series’ horror aesthetics. The 2.40:1 aspect ratio presents sharp and immersive visuals, giving an almost three-dimensional feel throughout the film, despite being a non-3D Blu-ray. The frame showcases impressive detailing—particles of glass, blood splatters, and chalk dust remain crisply defined. The clarity extends to facial features, including pores and wrinkles. The dominant palette is bleak, punctuated by vivid, lifelike reds that inject a visceral intensity. Grim reaper blacks enhance the overall contrast and detail with shadow delineation, ensuring no loss of detail in darker scenes.
The high-definition presentation is largely clean, with minor compression issues or artifacts seldom appearing. Noise, edge enhancement, DNR, banding, and artifacts are virtually nonexistent, although slight aliasing may be observable in finely combed hair and textures like car grills or fishnet stockings. Nonetheless, the fine textures and refined close-ups maintain an overall commendable visual fidelity. Reds pop with pulpy vibrancy, enhancing the impact of blood and fire sequences. This transfer is on par with its predecessors, providing a satisfactory visual experience for fans of the series.
All things considered, 'Final Destination 5' offers a robust video encode that effectively captures the film’s unsettling atmosphere. The meticulous attention to detail, consistent contrast, and minimal distraction from artifacts underscore an impressive 1080p experience. Despite its bleak color scheme, the video quality ensures that the horror elements remain striking and engaging for viewers.
Audio: 78
The audio presentation of "Final Destination 5" on Blu-ray showcases a meticulously-crafted DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track that elevates the terrifying experience significantly. Death’s ominous approach is accentuated by a sound design that spares no detail; the creaks, rips, and explosions are rendered with ear-piercing clarity, while flesh, bones, and brain matter transition from channel to channel with a disturbingly visceral quality. The audio track adeptly uses LFE to underscore Death's impending presence, with low-end ferocity enhancing scenes involving collapsing bridges, aircraft engines, and rattling machinery. Rear speaker activity enriches the soundscape further with whizzing blades and clattering metal components. Dialogue remains crisp and clear throughout, ensuring every line is intelligible, even amidst the cinematic chaos.
The 5.1 DTS-HD MA track is the crowning glory for fans of "Final Destination 5," taking full advantage of lossless surround sound to convey the grotesque intricacies of bones breaking, skulls crushing, and flesh burning with impeccable precision. Each channel provides rich environmental details, skillfully utilizing immersive audio effects to draw viewers further into the film's harrowing world. The seamless imaging of sound from one channel to another ensures fluid movement, particularly noticeable during high-intensity sequences like bridge collapses and explosive debris.
Balancing the mix to perfection, the audio presentation ensures that vocals are never drowned out by effects or music. The blend of sounds – from the wind howling to the groans of a failing structure, punctuated by screams of terror – creates a vivid and gripping auditory landscape. Even in the midst of pandemonium, the voice of the lead character remains clear as he directs his friends to safety, contributing to an exceptionally engaging and immersive viewing experience.
Extras: 36
The Blu-ray extras for "Final Destination 5" provide a mixed bag of content that may leave some fans wanting more. The Alternate Death Scenes feature is particularly underwhelming, as it only includes minor variations from the original scenes and fails to offer any substantial differences or added excitement. Conversely, the Circle of Death featurette serves as a standard production promotional piece, but be warned—viewing it before the movie will spoil the plot twist. The Visual Effects of Death segments split the screen to show original and finished VFX shots but lack any explanatory context, rendering them ineffective for those seeking insight into the film's special effects.
Extras included in this disc:
- Alternate Death Scenes: Minor variations of two death scenes with no significant differences.
- Circle of Death: Promotional featurette that spoils the ending.
- Visual Effects of Death: Split-screen comparisons without explanatory commentary.
Movie: 56
"Final Destination 5" maintains the franchise's familiar formula, offering fans a mix of gory, inventive kills and a thinly veiled overarching narrative. The movie follows Sam Lawton's (Nicholas D'Agosto) premonition of a deadly bridge collapse, which allows him and his colleagues to temporarily escape death's grasp. The film introduces a potentially intriguing "kill or be killed" moral dilemma, adding a new layer to the storyline. However, the film doesn't expand on the franchise's mythology or provide any deeper understanding of the forces at play, leaving key questions about the series' underlying concepts unanswered.
The cast features mostly unknown actors, with David Koechner being the notable exception as the smarmy boss Dennis Lapman. While the character ensemble is typical of the franchise, their development is minimal, serving primarily as fodder for the film's elaborate death sequences. The special effects in "Final Destination 5" are a standout aspect, particularly the impressive bridge collapse sequence, which is a testament to the film's top-notch visual effects team. The deaths are as creatively grotesque as ever, balancing the line between horror and dark comedy, but some predictability in the film's overall execution keeps it from achieving any groundbreaking suspense.
Despite its shortcomings, "Final Destination 5" hints at potential for future installments by introducing new elements and maintaining high-quality effects. This entry is an entertaining watch for gore enthusiasts and long-time fans, though it does little to advance the franchise's mythos. With further exploration into its rich narrative possibilities and deeper character development, there remains hope that future sequels might provide a refreshing take on the established formula. For now, this film stands as an exhilarating yet familiar chapter in the "Final Destination" saga.
Total: 62
"Final Destination 5" manages to inject new energy into the aging horror franchise with inventive kills and top-notch special effects. As a fan of the series or as someone who enjoys playful horror movies, you'll find this installment to be the best since the original film in 2000. Despite some minor aliasing issues, the near-perfect picture quality enhances the visual spectacle, while a great twist pushes the narrative into refreshing territory. The Blu-ray release boasts an outstanding video transfer and a flawless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track, making it as mesmerizing auditorily as it is visually.
The Blu-ray's technical presentation is commendable, offering crisp, clean visuals that elevate the film's gory nuances. The audio performance ensures that every click, crash, and scream resonate poignantly, achieving demo-worthy quality. While Warner Bros. succeeded in delivering a robust AV experience, the extras on the disc feel lackluster, a missed opportunity for a franchise with such an enthusiastic fan base.
In conclusion, "Final Destination 5" surpasses its predecessor and revitalizes interest in the long-standing horror series. Its inventive death scenes and immaculate technical execution make it a worthy addition to any horror enthusiast's collection. If future installments can match this level of quality and expand on supplemental content, the "Final Destination" series could regain its former glory. For now, though, this Blu-ray release comes highly recommended for both its engaging content and superior audiovisual presentation.
Blu-ray.com review by Kenneth BrownRead review here
Video: 80
All in all, the fifth film's video encode is on par with its predecessor, and undeterred fans of the series will get a sick kick out of its high definition presentation....
Audio: 90
Rear speaker activity is a blast too, with enough whizzing blades, screaming wires and chunks of stone hurtling across the soundfield to make Death's dealings more entertaining than they might otherwise...
Extras: 40
Fifteen of the alternate sixteen minutes is identical to what appears in the cut of the film you know and love (or loathe)....
Movie: 60
Entertaining as it all tends to be, the series is growing stale; re-staging the same setups and payoffs, rehashing the same thrills and chills, and repeating itself ad nauseum, even to the point of poking...
Total: 70
The film has some standout moments, and the franchise still has potential, but the next Final Destination needs to step out and head in a new direction....
High-Def DigestRead review here
Video: 80
The overall palette of the film features muted colors, deep reds of blood being the only color that carries any weight....
Audio: 100
Now you can hear the disgusting sounds of bones breaking, skulls crushing, spines snapping, flesh burning and blood spattering in perfect lossless surround sound....
Extras: 40
Instead of breaking down how the strong visual effects were created, this feature merely splits the screen into two and fills one half with the original shot and the other shot with the final plate....
Movie: 60
There's also a WB Insider Rewards promo and a trailer for the 'Clockwork Orange' Blu-ray, both of which you can skip through to get to the menu faster....
Total: 80
The deaths are awesome, the effects are top-notch, and a nice twist takes the franchise in a fresh direction....
Director: Steven Quale
Actors: Nicholas D'Agosto, Emma Bell, Arlen Escarpeta
PlotA group of coworkers is en route to a company retreat when Sam, one of the employees, experiences a vivid premonition of a catastrophic bridge collapse that kills everyone on the bus. Panicked, he convinces several colleagues, including his girlfriend Molly, to leave the vehicle before disaster strikes, saving their lives. However, they soon learn that their escape was only temporary, as Death begins to claim them one by one in a sequence of horrifying accidents.
Desperate to find a way to survive, Sam and the survivors seek answers and try to understand the pattern of Death's plan. They encounter a mortician who suggests that they could potentially cheat Death by taking another person's life, sparking a frenzied and morally challenging struggle for survival. As the tension escalates, the survivors must confront their own fears and the inevitability of their fate, realizing that escaping Death's design is nearly impossible.
Writers: Eric Heisserer, Jeffrey Reddick
Release Date: 12 Aug 2011
Runtime: 92 min
Rating: R
Country: United States, Canada
Language: English, Cantonese