Ranking the Final Destination movies.

I recently finished watching the Final Destination series. This is my ranking from worst to best. Updated as the sequels come (I think 6 and 7 are shooting back-to-back).

#5 The Final Destination. Let's get one thing straight here before we begin, I don't flat out HATE any of these movies. They are entertaining in their own way and of someone asked me to marathon these with them, I would not refuse. That aside, I am confident that the 4th installment is the worst. it has virtually none of the freshness that made the original film likable. It was almost like it was trying to take itself too seriously. At least, that's the impression I got with the protagonist. He was not as likable as the rest of them. They didn't try to make the plot fresh at all. This series did have sequels that attempted that. It was still entertaining enough, but definitely the weakest. Plus it doesn't have Tony Todd in it like the other 4 did.

4. Final Destination 3. By this point in the series, everybody knows full well what will happen and when it will happen. By the 3rd installment, it is merely about the kills instead of a good story (something I feel that the first two excelled at). In an effort to try to make the film interesting, this one builds up the kills too much for them to be really interesting and then prolongs a couple of them to the point where we don't care (tanning salon anyone?) It is still an entertaining film, but weak.

#3 Final Destination 5 I know this may be surprising because not only did it get the highest reviews of the entire series, but it also was the only of the FD series to achieve a fresh overall rating from Rotten Tomatoes. And I do agree that it was most certainly an improvement over 3 and 4. It still focuses mostly on how much more violent the kills can be from the previous installments than it does on telling the audience a good story. I wouldn't mind this so much but I believe that the first two did focus on the story more than the kills. However, this one did focus on the characters and the story more than the other two. Heck, I even started to care about some of them despite knowing full well when they were going down. It manages to actually get some good thrills in there to boot. It is a good movie. Killer (excuse the pun) ending too.

#2. Final Destination 2 I'll be honest, this one was pretty close. I did enjoy this one almost as much as I did the first one. It is at that point in the series where they manage to almost perfectly balance the story as well as the cool kills. Plus it has actual character complexity for a few of them, something beyond "Here is this character, he/she is/ is not worried about Death getting them, he/she dies a gruesome death." I highly appreciate that. they also manage some cool tie-ins with the original film that make the story even better. P.S. do any of you think of the song "You Wouldn't Know" by Hellyeah every time you think of this movie or vice-versa? Particularly regarding the big crash? It is just me? Dang...

#1. Final Destination It's clever, original, and it sets out to tell a good story and succeeds. Is it still predictable? Yes. Is it subtle? Absolutely not! None of them are, least of all this one. If nothing else, it tries to make a film that is different from every single horror film made in the past 30 years (at that point). It certainly succeeds. It is a close race with the second one, but I think that this, is the best Final Destination movie.