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Friday the 13th Movie Review

Admittedly, I am not the world’s biggest Jason Voorhees fan. Not that I hate the ‘Friday’ films, but I never saw the terror in what is essentially a hulking, machete wielding retard. Sure there have been some great kills and no one seeing these films are looking for high art, but the character of Jason never had the appeal of Freddy Krueger, Leatherface, or even Michael Myers. This is the greatest accomplishment of the re-imagining of Friday the 13th.

Gone are the days when Jason would walk as slow as molasses and somehow catch-up to teens running ten times faster than him, and does nothing else but stand there and slash. Here we get a Jason that outsmarts his opponents, can actually move faster than an old person, and is essentially humanized. Let’s face it, most people seeing slasher films root for the villain to wade through hordes of stupid teenagers. It’s a great change of pace (at least for the genre) that we’re able to feel a little bit of sympathy for Jason towards the end of the film rather than cheer when he’s about to be terminated.

This ‘Friday’ begins the same way the first film ended, albeit with different actresses. We’re then treated to a group of campers who make their way to Camp Crystal Lake. Naturally they’re just there to enjoy the scenery, sleep with each other, and find an apparently big weed stash that’s stored on Crystal Lake’s grounds. The nerdiest of the group annoys one of the campers trying to bang America Olivo and is told to beat it. He follows orders and stumbles upon Marijuana Heaven, and Jason Voorhees. This is where the fun, and one of the best openings ever, happen. Jason tears through these teens like it’s a pre-game warm up (including one very sweet kill).

After that wonderful treat, we’re given the real plot of the film which follows Clay (Jared Padalecki) searching for his sister, Whitney (Amanda Righetti) who’s been missing for six weeks. In his travels he stumbles across a group of teens (led by Travis Van Winkle and Danielle Panabaker) who aside from Jenna, tell him to get lost. Jenna (Panabaker) and Clay then head into the woods to go searching for Whitney and it’s not long before Mr. Voorhees shows up with a large can of whoop ass.

Rarely do slashers actually give us decent characterizations or likable characters. This one at the very least gives some of the characters a personalty to where you almost feel for some of them. I do want to give special mention to Travis Van Winkle who was definitely the most entertaining of the bunch. He shines every moment he is on the screen and creates the ultimate on-screen douche bag. No one will find characters that will change their lives or anything like that, but it’s nice to know the filmmakers didn’t over look this aspect that seldom goes untouched in these films.

For all the good this film does, it’s painful to watch the wheels fall off in the final act. We do get the glorious Jason destroying any and everyone, the fate of Whitney, and Julianna Gill’s stupendous…assets. But what happens at the very end feels tonally out of touch with the rest of the film. It almost destroys all the good this movie had laid down before it. They set up a realistic-esque world, and while I understand they want to honor the other films, this isn’t one of the other films. It might seem like a small thing to be up in arms about, but it’s tough to think these characters would end up in the predicament that they do.

Platinum Dunes has crafted a film that should please fans and attract newcomers to the series. It looks slick, sleek, and has a decent set of actors but at it’s core is a tried and true ‘Friday’ film. What they have done to Jason is elevate him from hulking retard to a terrifying menace machine and the series is better for it. While this might not be the best film in the series, it’s by far the best characterization of Jason to date.

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