After “Final Destination” scored over $100 million at the worldwide box office, New Line Cinema immediately went forward writing a sequel, the cleverly titled “Final Destination 2”. Returning from the cast would be Ali Larter reprising her role as young Clear Rivers (a name that is so dumb and campy that one can’t help but laugh) guiding a new group of death prone hopefuls though life after a horrific freeway pileup. Does this series retain the freshness of the original or is it just a pale imitation of everything that made the first movie so damn good?

“Final Destination 2” begins with young and very beautiful (a popular trend in the FD series) Kimberly Corman having a vision of a huge car accident. Halting up the traffic, Kimberly is horrified when the accident actually happens. Kimberly links the occurrence with a similar event a year earlier. Researching up on Clear Rivers, Kimberly discovers that death’s pattern has been disturbed, meaning everyone who was originally supposed to die, will now encounter a freak accident. Including her! Kimberly and the rest of the survivors, must work with Clear to try and stop Death from repeating it’s process.

“Final Destination 2” is wittier, smarter, and bloodier than its original. It is clever in the way that it ties our characters from this film with characters from the previous installments. The deaths are incredibly inventive and stand as the best deaths of the entire series. The ending in particular is a black comedy miracle that shouldn’t work but does. Granted some of the acting can be a bit over-the-top and melodramatic and some of the effects don’t hold up as well as others. Nonetheless, this is still the rare sequel that takes everything that works about the original film and adds to it. A definite must see for fans of the original.