Death is just as omnipresent as ever, and in Final Destination 5 it strikes again. During the bus ride to a corporate retreat, Sam (Nicholas D’Agosto) has a premonition in which he and most of his friends — as well as numerous others — die in a horrific bridge collapse. When his vision ends, events begin to mirror what he had seen, and he frantically ushers as many of his colleagues — including his friend, Peter (Miles Fisher), and girlfriend, Molly (Emma Bell) — away from the disaster before Death can claim them. But these unsuspecting souls were never supposed to survive, and in a terrifying race against time, the ill-fated group tries to discover a way to escape Death’s sinister agenda.

• Amazon Sales Rank: #561 in DVD
• Released on: 2011-12-27
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.77:1
• Number of discs: 2
• Format: Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Running time: 92 minutes

Amazon.com
Moviedom's most fatalistic franchise returns in efficient form in Final Destination 5, an installment that goes for broke in its big opening set piece. This time the initial disaster happens on a suspension bridge that turns out to be all too vulnerable to high winds and an over-aggressive repair project. The employees of Presage Plus (ha ha) are in a bus crossing the span when Sam (Nicholas D'Agosto) pre-envisions the bloody disaster to come; panicked, he urges his friends to scamper off the bridge just in time to avoid the collapse. You know what comes next: the survivors face certain death as Fate demands its deferred payment, and a coroner (Tony Todd, thankfully returning to the series) intones dark wisdom about the price that must be paid. Director Steven Quale understands that the audience expects the horrifyingly convoluted deaths of the previous pictures; each new demise is like the result of a crowd at an improv theater shouting out different ideas to weave together (hmm, what can we do with a leaky air conditioner, a loose screw, and a set of uneven parallel bars?). The results--shot for 3-D release, no less--will not disappoint die-hard fans, and even the actors are bearable this time around: D'Agosto, from the underrated Fired Up!, pairs nicely with Emma Bell, P.J. Byrne gets off a few unctuous one-liners, and David Koechner does his clueless jerk routine as the Presage Plus boss from hell. The final sequence, while not making any sense according to the rules we've been watching, does tie up the entire series in a neat bow. Until the next sequel, anyway. --Robert Horton

Most helpful customer reviews

31 of 36 people found the following review helpful.
Final Destination 6 & 7, Here We Come!
By A Mosaic Masterpiece
The "Final Destination" franchise began going downhill rapidly after the second movie. But, will the fifth movie help the franchise go back up or will it continue going downhill fast?
I saw this movie about a month ago at the test screening, and I must say that, in my opinion, this is the most brutal, the most gruesome, and the most clever movie of the entire franchise. It has many well-thought out death scenes, and one death scene in the movie made me cringe and look away, and trust me, I watched A LOT of slasher/gornography films. One of the most famous scene is the lasik surgery which I thought was pretty good. I'm not going to spoil it for you.
First off, this movie has a very interesting plotline. As you heard from the trailer, you know the new death rule, and I think it is pretty clever. But, why didn't Bludworth tell it to the others? Hmmm...?
Second of all, the characters are very very relatable. You can actually tell if one hates the other, and one is friends with the other for a long time. Also, you can actually feel bad for a character when he/she gets hurt or dies. The acting is very impressive, hence the proffesional and experienced actors. I think this is one of the reasons why this movie made it to my highest rank of the "Final Destination" franchise.
Third, what is this franchise famous of? Exactly, the unique death scenes that happens from the materials/places we see/go to everyday. There are some death scenes here that are very gruesome that if I picture it, I either cringe or smile on how good the death scenes are. One death scene made it to my top 15 most brutal death scenes I have ever seen. Some of you might know it, some of you might not. One thing for sure is, you will know it when you see the movie in August.
Lastly, the ending of the whole movie. The ending that made me gasp and left my jaw dropped open for the rest of the movie. It is a pity that many people know it already and spoiled it for everyone, because thy will not be as surprised as everybody on the screening when we reached the ending of the movie. All I gotta tell you is rewatch the whole franchise and soak in every scene you see.. :)
So, this review might not be as long as you want it, and as detailed as you hoped for. But, all I have to say is watch the movie. It is way worth your money and your time. This will be a box-office hit. So, "Final Destination 6 and 7", here we come!

6 of 9 people found the following review helpful.
I am beginning to notice a pattern :)
By L. Power
Death does not like to be cheated. Not only does death not like to be cheated, it apparently has a sense of irony, a macabre sense of humor, and compared to the previous movies in the series, seemingly endless and original ways of restoring the balance.

I went to see this with two friends, one of whom had never seen a Final Destination movie, and she definitely did not want to see this one, she wanted to sneak into the Smurf movie instead. If FD was bad, she would leave and go home and take my other friend, because she was his ride.

So, as the movie introduces us to our usual collection of destiny deceivers, it presents the different characters in new and interesting ways. This time, a group of people going on a company retreat, though not all of the people work for the company. This time it's not a plane about to take off, a freeway pileup, or racing cars in a stadium. It's a bus on a bridge, and I was surprised to be so gripped by what happened on the bridge I forgot what happened in previous movies. The further you get into the movie, the more gripping it gets.

If my friend wanted to flee she could not, maybe because she was rooted to her seat. Amateurs.

FD5 offers an interesting twist on a successful formula. Death has a new rule, by which it can be successfully cheated, and this creates an ethical dilemma for our participants. We get the stock characters, the suspicious police detective, who thinks the accident was no accident. The creepy mysterious guy who turns up at every scene and tells our survivors death does not like to be cheated. Is he death personified, you wonder? And then the bodies start piling up.

"If they didn't deserve to die, then why do you deserve to live."

The scenes are great, and highly inventive, and they tease and taunt you.

Particularly the gymnastic routine, will it be the pointy screw on the balance beam, the loosening bolt on the parallel bar, the frayed wire to the fan, spilling water creeping across the floor, or the defective and shaky over head air conditioner.

As the girl prepares for the Lasik scene, you think, doesn't she know? For the Lasik scene. I had to close my eyes at times. How it toys with your emotions. You can be squirming one moment while anticipating the next.

As I looked around I noticed many people covering their eyes at certain points. A little kid sitting next to me seemed strangely unperturbed by the goings on.

And, as a trainee chef ambles into the restaurant and there are naked flames and long skewers, and sharp knives everywhere, you wonder what is he thinking.

With our usual assortment of up and coming actors, I wondered who the survivors would be. I remember thinking she is too pretty to die early, but that was short sighted of me, as death does not respect the pretty.

Having seen almost all the Final Destination movies, I consider this the best since the original. Obviously, these types of movies are not for everyone, particularly not my smurf loving friend. But, if you have enjoyed Final Destination before, you will undoubtedly enjoy this one again. I loved the twist at the end.

I hope you found this review helpful, and I think you will enjoy the movie.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful.
Still not as good as 1 & 2, but better then 3 and 4!
By Micheal Hunt
I think it's more then fair to say that most peoples favorites of this series are either 1 or 2, and then 3 and 4 where a little disappointing, but much to my surprise, this 5th installment was a lot of fun and had some awesome death scenes. This one's premises are the same as every other FD movie, this time the group of survivors cheat death after getting off of a bus that falls victim to strong winds that bring down a large motorway bridge (similar to the Golden Gate Bridge).

Of coarse as expected, Death comes for them one by one and they figure this out, and try to avoid it. The last 2 movies had something that just didn't make them as great as the first 2, almost like they where made for "direct to DVD" release, but this one here, you may expect "they are just cashing in on the franchise now" but this one had some thought put into it and the effects looked pretty good, so it was well worth a cinematic release.

Make sure you stick around for the closing credits as AC/DC's "If You Want Blood" roars through the speakers and you get an awesome montage of pretty much every death from the FD series... in 3D!

I'm not sure how that is going to look when it comes to home viewing, but in the cinemas it looked absolutely awesome!