Friday release: 'Final Destination 5' cheats death fifth time around

In 'Final Destination 5,' Death is just as omnipresent as ever, and is unleashed after one man's premonition saves a group of coworkers from a terrifying suspension bridge collapse. 'Final Destination 5' is a hoot for the strong of stomach. Text: Reuters
Finally, you can cheat death in a 'Final Destination' movie. Just take someone else's life -- adding your victim's years to your own.
It's not only the only twist in the new 'Final Destination 5,' it's a philosophical conundrum square in the middle of the least philosophical franchise ever.
As usual for the series, director Steven Quale delivers shocking scenes of horrifying murder and mutilation.
Director Quale shot second unit on James Cameron's 'Titanic' and 'Avatar'; for the latter, he was responsible for much of the groundbreaking 3D technology.
He employs it to superlative effect here. 'FD 5' may reek in the acting department, but Quale is sure-handed with narrative montage, ratcheting up the tension as the reaper closes in with outlandish coincidence that makes even a massage parlor a potential death trap.
Sam Lawton (Nicholas D'Agosto) is on a tour bus to a company retreat when he has a startling vision of a bridge collapse with each of his friends meeting gruesome Wile E Coyote-like deaths.
Snapping out of his nightmarish reverie, Sam herds his friends and whoever will listen off the bus only to see it consumed in a collapse matching his vision.
D'Agosto loosely anchors the movie in a wan and passive manner.
'Final Destination 5' only becomes watchable when people are perishing, in ways so outlandish that they border on self-parody.
Miles Fisher plays the company's ethically challenged alpha male, a role by which he oddly channels Tom Cruise, delivering a hackneyed performance as he struggles with a character arc that barely makes sense.
The film has over the years become nothing more than a celebration of graphic gore and pain meant to elicit chills and laughter.
The concept for the original 'Final Destination' back in 2000 was a sound one -- for the cheap thriller that it was.
Veteran actor Courtney B Vance acquits himself well in a limited role as a cop, and David Koechner, as the typically clueless office manager, gets a few hardy laughs.
There are at least as many laughs as there are scares, such as when one poor victim has his face caved in by a stone Buddha, or when a gymnast fumbles on a difficult dismount, landing like a pretzel.
Warner/New Line's teenager-fatality saga 'Final Destination 5' hit theares in US on August 12.
'Final Destination 5' is opening in 3,155 theaters, most of them 3D-equipped.
Steven Quale, who learned the 3D filmmaking craft under James Cameron himself (he was the visual effects supervisor on 'Avatar'), directed the R-rated film.
The film was shot on a budget of $ 42 million in Vancouver.
With the death scenes in the fourth movie rendering the suspension-of-belief bridge for many moviegoers a bit unstable, Perry said the producers closely studied the initial films of the franchise in an effort to better ground the next sequel.