while alex browning ( devon sawa ) waits at jfk to leave for a school trip to paris , bad omens seem to surround him . as soon as he buckles into the plane , he has a vision of the plane exploding seconds after take-off . when the vision begins to come true , alex bolts for the door , dragging several students and a teacher in his wake . the plane takes off without them and explodes just as alex predicted . he becomes an object of fear and suspicion among the community , and the tension only increases as the survivors begin to die . alex and another survivor , clear rivers ( ali larter ) , investigate the suspicious " suicide " of a friend , and a mortician ( tony " candyman " todd ) clues them in to the truth : alex interrupted death's design by saving people who should have died in the explosion , and death will want to claim its rightful victims . in order to save himself and the others , alex will have to figure out death's new plan and thwart it . of the countless horror films that have competed for a piece of the " scream " audience , " final destination " is the best so far . talented young screenwriter jeffrey reddick offers a fresh variation on a familiar formula . we've seen hundreds of movies where a group of teenagers are murdered one-by-one by a faceless slasher , but reddick cuts out the hockey-masked middle-man and makes the villain death itself . first-time feature director james wong made the most of that premise . every scene is permeated with creepiness and foreboding , reminding us that death is everywhere , can come at anytime . everyday objects and events vibrate with menace . the most amusing harbinger of doom : john denver's " rocky mountain high , " which is played several times in the movie before someone dies . ( the link is that denver died in a plane crash , and the song includes a line about fire in the sky . ) the performances are stronger than those usually elicited by teen horror . devon sawa , who previously starred in another horror flick , " idle hands , " gives a frantic and convincing lead performance . kerr smith is carter hogan , an antagonist of alex's whose quick temper causes him to pulled off the fatal plane . smith plays carter as filled with anger and confusion that constantly threatens to bubble over into violence . seann william scott , who's also in theaters right now in " road trip , " plays the somewhat dim billy hitchcock and provides a needed counterpoint to the intensity of alex and carter . tony todd's one-scene cameo is delicious but all too brief . bottom line : watchable teen fright flicks are few and far between , but this destination is worth visiting .
