Friday the 13th (2009)

Cast:
Jared Padalecki as Clay
Derek Mears as Jason Voorhees
Danielle Panabaker as Jenna
Amanda Righetti as Whitney
Travis Van Winkle as Trent
Aaron Yoo as Chewie
Arlen Escarpeta as Lawrence
Julianna Guill as Bree

Directed by Marcus Nispel

Review:

I liked the cast, I liked Jason's look, and I liked that they seemingly were trying really hard to make an F13 film that would sit comfortably with parts 1-4 (swap out 3 for 6, and that's the best of the franchise). And while the end product is satisfying and occasionally great, there are some blunders that keep it from being the "ultimate Jason" movie that it could have easily been with another pass or two at the script.

Ok, so this is what works. The opening scene, which quickly explains the events of the original Friday, is in my opinion a great idea. You can't ignore the mother, but you don't want to take to much time on it either, so they blend it with the opening credits and get it out of the way. Also, Derek Mears is a great Jason - he's got the physicality and presence to match up with the best Jason's yet. Great job with the makeup, too. Making him look human, but not just a hillbilly in a mask, like he often appeared in the earlier films. You really feel that he's a guy who's lived in the woods for his whole life. As far as the 'unique' kills featured in the ladder of the franchise, Jason sticks to the basics (machete, axe, his bare hands) for the most part. He even uses an arrow for the first time since the original, showing he's smarter than you'd expect. As I've said before, it's the films without gimmicks (Jason goes to Manhattan, Jason goes to Hell and ever Space for instance), with Jason just being Jason, that turn out the best.

For every plus, there's a minus. The biggest is the rather awkward setup. After the "Mrs. Voorhees" prologue, we are introduced to a group of kids. But Jared Padalecki and the other main actors are not among them, so you know they aren't living long - they are ultimately just there to provide a body count (this film has 13 corpses to be exact) and introduce Amanda Righetti's character, who Padalecki will spend the entire film looking for once he is finally introduced. Weird enough, this throwaway group of kids is actually more fun and "Friday" style than the real group that comes along later. So while you are enjoying their antics and interactions
(some funny, some rather brutal), you know they're all goners. It's basically a second prologue, one that lasts about 15-20 minutes. With the happenings here, most horror movies would be over, but this is only the beginning.

Jared Padalecki (Supernatural) is playing a variant of the Rob character from part 4, venturing to Crystal Lake six weeks later to find his sister. The other kids are natural and fun and function as they are supposed to, no complaints there. Usually in every Friday movie (and most slasher films) there's one last survivor, usually a girl, who finds all her friends bodies and eventually confronts the killer. The search for missing sister setup allows for the film to have essentially two Final Girls. Righetti is one, the other is Danielle Panabaker. You know the fates of every other character, so it was nice to have a little bit of suspense whenever one of the two girls were in danger, because you suspect that one of them will die, you're just not sure which. It's one of the best ways around an inherent flaw in the slasher formula I've ever seen.

Jason using bear traps and setting trip wires to alert him is a good addition to the character. I prefer the 'human' Jason, and here's the best one yet. The movie is the best since Jason Lives (part 6, this was part 12) by far, which in itself is a huge accomplishment, as I was starting to suspect that it was just not possible to make a good Jason film anymore. The Dunes have done that; I just hope next time they make a great one.

B+