The one thing all humans have in common is that no matter what we do, we all die. This is exactly what the Final Destination franchise builds on. Each movie begins with a death sequence in which all the characters die in an accident. This death sequence ends up being a premonition the main character has. Despite trying to avoid multiple casualties, the main character is always only saving a few people while the rest die. Thus, the characters never truly had any sort of free will throughout the movie. Death’s design is inevitable, and the films use the illusion of choice to deepen the horror. Viewers are encouraged to root for characters, but in the end, do they ever really stand a chance against fate?
To begin, we’ll start with the rules of death’s design. In each movie, the main character and a few others seemingly avoid death, to which they rejoice. There is joy in escaping death, a sort of adrenaline rush, but did they really escape? Slowly, each character begins to die, one by one, in the order they would have died in the initial accident. The film establishes this when the first death post-accident happens. The characters in this world come to think of these deaths as freak accidents, especially happening so soon after the escaping death the first time. In each film, these rules to Death’s order become complicated – characters are led to believe that by following some sort of system, they are able to cheat death. A false sense of hope of “cheating” death is provided to the characters and viewers alike, but it never works. “Cheating” death is impossible, as death itself is inevitable.
Then comes the illusion of free will. Once they figure out a way to cheat death, whether that’s figuring out the order or taking in the clues around them, the characters feel that they can cheat death this way. Characters believe that their choices matter and find that they can take back control from death. This always proves to be fruitless in the end, when the characters end up dying. Post-accident, one character returns home with a bunch of luxuries they bought after winning the lottery. Suddenly, a fire consumes their apartment, and they narrowly escape. Or did he? This character ends up dying with the fire escape ladder falling through his skull. It is always a given that each character, when faced with a second close encounter of death post-accident, ends up dying after they believed they cheated death. This proves that they had not cheated death, but rather that Death is tying up loose ends from those who got away from the initial accident.
Now comes the question of what this means for us as viewers. Each Final Destination movie more or less ends up having the same plot: premonition, characters try to avoid death, and characters end up dying anyway. What makes these movies interesting to watch? For one, each movie has a different story that it follows. In Final Destination 1, we follow the survivors of the flight 180 crash, and in Final Destination 2, we follow another set of survivors after a highway pileup. This keeps the movie interesting, even if the structure is the same. Viewers are introduced to new characters and see a different set of freak accidents. Final Destination also brings forth why viewers resonate with the fate versus free will theme. As humans, we would like to think we’re in control of our lives, that we can make our own choices, but can we change fate? It’s easy to get caught up in the idea that our lives follow a predetermined plan and that no matter what choices we make, everything will end the same. Still, not everyone believes in fate.
Returning to the question of: did these characters ever really stand a chance? The answer is yes and no. Most of the characters that made it past the initial accident ended up dying in freak accidents – whether this is being smushed to death by a giant glass pane or the tanning bed catching on fire. Other characters were able to make it past movies, and become a recurring character before meeting their untimely death too. In my opinion, this is what makes the Final Destination franchise amazing. Each time you watch, you’re filled with a sense of rooting for these characters to beat the odds, even if you know that in death’s design, no one can truly beat death (though technically some characters “do”). This leaves us with one remaining question: if you knew you couldn’t escape, would you still try? Maybe that’s the human condition, to want to beat the odds, but who can beat the odds against death?
With no further explanation, these are my favorite Final Destination movies in order: Final Destination 3, Final Destination 2, Final Destination 1, Final Destination 4, Final Destination 5, and Final Destination Bloodlines (otherwise known as Final Destination 6).
This was written by our contributing writer, Nya Rowe.
Image Source: Pexels, Pavel Danilyuk
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