FINAL DESTINATION: BLOODLINES
(15) 110mins
★★★★☆
4
4
AFTER a 14-year hiatus, horror saga Final Destination roars back to life with a sixth movie – and Bloodlines is just as blood-soaked as the previous films.
The franchise centres on people trying to cheat gory deaths yet this time round directors Zach Lipovsky and Adam Stein offer up a fresh cast and sharp new hook.
The action revolves around Stefani (Kaitlyn Santa Juana), a college student who finds herself caught in the infamous cycle of terror.
Recurring nightmares of a catastrophic event turn her life into a living hell.
So the young woman seeks answers from her estranged grandmother Iris (Gabrielle Rose), who has managed to dodge death for decades by isolating herself in the wilderness.
Dark humour
Things take a gory turn, though, after Iris dies in a freak accident. Stefani realises that unless she acts fast, her whole family could face a deadly fate.
Final Destination’s main attraction remains gloriously over-the-top deaths, and this latest instalment doesn’t disappoint.
From a hospital set piece that rivals the freeway carnage of Final Destination 2, to creatively choreographed kill scenes that leave you both laughing and wincing, Bloodlines embraces its macabre roots with tongue firmly in cheek.
The film is self-aware in all the right ways, balancing dark humour, dread and gore with the precision of a seasoned slasher.
Perhaps most poignant is the final on-screen appearance of horror legend Tony Todd, reprising his role as the enigmatic William Bludworth.
His performance is haunting and heartfelt, giving the film a quiet gravity amid the chaos.
Elsewhere, there are great turns from Teo Briones as Stefani’s brother Charlie, Richard Harmon as one of her cousins and Rya Kihlstedt who plays Stefani’s mum.
Bloodlines also benefits from a slightly revised approach to its signature premonition sequences, injecting a jolt of freshness without losing the fun.
The result feels both nostalgic and invigorated, as if the series has found new blood without abandoning its gory soul.
With its blend of tension, fun and shock value, Bloodlines is a gruesome but clever, emotionally resonant film that proves this franchise still has plenty of life, and death, left in it.
THE WEDDING BANQUET
(15) 103mins
★★★☆☆
4
ANDREW AHN directs a thoughtful and funny update of Ang Lee’s 1993 classic about a gay landlord and a female tenant who enter into a sham marriage to appease his parents.
Set in contemporary Seattle, the film reflects a world where legal and social landscapes have shifted dramatically since the 90s.
But while sham marriages may seem outdated in the era of legalised gay weddings, Ahn and co-writer James Schamus explore how personal and familial complexities still make such arrangements feel oddly plausible.
Angela (Kelly Marie Tran), a young lesbian undergoing IVF with her partner Lee (Lily Gladstone), agrees to a marriage of convenience between herself and Min (Han Gi-chan).
The goal: secure Min’s green card and fund IVF using his family’s wealth. Naturally, the plan spirals into awkwardness and heartache.
Ahn’s film lacks the emotional punch of Lee’s original, but it’s full of hilarious performances and updated insights into love, compromise, and LGBTQ identity.
Ahn acknowledges how much has changed since 1993, but also how the emotional stakes are timeless.
Linda Marric
OCEAN WITH DAVID ATTENBOROUGH
(PG) 84mins
★★★★☆
4
THERE is no voice on the planet as reassuring or as authoritative as Sir David Attenborough’s.
In his latest documentary, Ocean, he tells how the world’s seas are facing collapse due to overfishing.
It’s said in such a way to alert the audience to the danger without causing them to panic or flee to the exit.
That’s important because if you give Sir David time he always gets round to offering a solution to the problem.
Unlike Netflix documentary Seaspiracy, this isn’t anti-fishing and it doesn’t lecture the audience.
Sir David shows us the wonders of the underwater world, the coral reefs, the boundless array of aquatic creatures and the key role they play in our ecosystem.
The message is that if we give the ocean a bit of breathing space it will bounce back, and it is a lesson Attenborough, who turned 99 yesterday, has learned “after almost 100 years on the planet”.
At that age it is unclear how much energy he can have for many more of these types of films.
It is worth going to the cinema to enjoy our great naturalist while you can.
Grant Rollings