Kimberly Corman

Kimberly Corman
Final Destination character

A.J. Cook as Kimberly Corman
First appearance Final Destination 2
Last appearance Final Destination 3
(alternate ending)(mentioned in a newspaper)
Created by Jeffrey Reddick
Eric Bress
J. Mackye Gruber
Portrayed by A. J. Cook
Information
Full name Kimberly Corman
Nickname(s) Kim
Gender Female
Occupation College student
Family Michael Corman
(father)
Mrs. Corman
(mother, deceased)
Location White Plains, New York
Status Unknown
possible cause of death Mutilated by a woodchipper(off-screen)

Kimberly "Kim" Corman is a fictional character in the Final Destination series, portrayed by A. J. Cook. Kimberly serves as the protagonist of Final Destination 2. She is a college student from White Plains, New York, and is one of the survivors of the Route 23 pileup.

Character arc

Background

Kimberly was born in White Plains, New York to Michael Corman.[1][2][3] She is very close to her father, especially after her mother's death during a carjacking. Kimberly continues to blame herself for what happened since she stayed behind from her mother in an appliance store to watch a newsfeed about Tod Waggner's suicide. Her mother was shot in their car when it was hijacked by street thugs.[1][3] She is attending college with her friends Gina McKlank, Dano Estevez and Frankie Whitman, and was originally going to spend her spring break with her friends in Daytona Beach, Florida.

A.J. Cook, famous for portraying Jennifer "JJ" Jareau in the TV series Criminal Minds, played Kimberly Corman in Final Destination 2. Cook's role is one of the current five visionaries of the series, the other four (Alex Browning, Wendy Christensen, Nick O'Bannon, and Sam Lawton) portrayed by Devon Sawa, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Bobby Campo, and Nicholas D'Agosto respectively.

Final Destination 2

In the film, Kimberly decided to take Route 23 as a shortcut to Florida. While driving, Kim had an ominous vision of a highway pileup caused by a log truck derailment at the end of the vision a mysterious truck coming out of nowhere rams into her car. Stalling her car sideways to prevent other drivers from going further, Kim and a handful of other drivers watches closely as vehicles ahead crash one another and explode in the highway. To her surprise, another truck (the same truck that killed her at the end of her vision) smashes her SUV with her friends still in it, killing them, although she is rescued by Officer Burke. Kimberly and other survivors are interrogated by Officer Burke afterwards, with Kimberly explaining her vision's similarity to Alex Browning's vision, and that now they are all in Death's List. The survivors disregard this until survivor Evan Lewis died in his apartment later that night, alarming everyone of Death being after them. With Burke's help, Kimberly consult the help of Clear Rivers (the only survivor of Flight 180 that time) to save the remaining others. Nevertheless, their attempts prove unsuccessful. Clear leads Kimberly and Officer Burke to mortician William Bludworth, who helps the latter by claiming that new life can defeat Death. Kimberly realizes that pregnant survivor Isabella Hudson can save them; however, this proves false, since Isabella was meant to live even in the premonition. After two more deaths, Kimberly sacrifices herself for Officer Burke's safety by driving the van she is riding into a lake, but Officer Burke rescues her from the van and sends her to the nearby hospital for recovery. Thinking she and Officer Burke finally cheated Death, they went to a picnic with the Gibbons family, who tells them how their son Brian Gibbons was saved from Death by the survivors. To everyone's surprise, Brian is incinerated nearby due to a barbecue grill malfunction.[1]

Final Destination 3

In the alternate ending of Final Destination 3, a newspaper (not official) blows by, revealing Kimberly and Burke ran into each other at a hardware store and a Camaro (belonging to Evan) ran through the store, knocking them into a nearby woodchipper. Kimberly's coat was tangled and was snatched into the machine. Burke attempted to save her, and both were dismembered, with the attending physician who signed their death certificates being Dr. Ellen Kalarjian. However, while this is an alternate ending, as every other character in the Final Destination series has died, it can be safely assumed that they too faced a gruesome end. Franchise producer Craig Perry had stated that the newspaper article can be taken as canonical.

Kimberly, alongside Burke, is the longest surviving character in the series with four and a half years. The Route 23 pileup that was meant to kill them happened in March of 2001 and Kimberly and Thomas died in late 2005 shortly before the deaths of Wendy, Julie and Kevin (not official).

Casting

The role of Kimberly Corman was given to Canadian actress A. J. Cook, who previously starred in the 1999 film The Virgin Suicides. Cook described her role as "a very strong girl, very determined because her mother died a year earlier, right in front of her eyes, so she’s had to grow up quick." Cook added that "it's rare to find one strong female lead in a horror film, not to mention two [Larter].”[4] Director David Ellis and producer Craig Perry were amazed by her sensitivity and vulnerability in her performance, and she was hired instantly. Ellis and Perry praised her act, with Perry stating that "[they] were at the beginning of what's going to be a long successful career for her." Ellis describe her role as "a girl who can have some fun cause they're going on a trip and they'll gonna have a good time, yet someone who can stand up to Clear, to come and challenge Clear on a race, and to bother with Clear."[5][6] The character's surname was based by writer Jeffrey Reddick to American director Roger Corman, who directed the horror comedy film The Little Shop of Horrors.[7] Originally, Kimberly and her father Michael's surname was Burroughs (in honor of Canadian actress Jackie Burroughs, who starred as Kate Flynn in the acclaimed crime thriller film The Grey Fox) instead of Corman in the original script, but the writers decided to change it in the script revision.[8]

Reception

"The survivors of the highway accident aren't nearly as likeable as the survivors of Flight 180. Most of them are morons or jerks, making it difficult to care about their struggle with death. Of the new characters, only A. J. Cook's Kimberly elicits the slightest bit of sympathy."

— Andrew Manning of Radio Free Entertainment positively distinguishing A. J. Cook from the new set of actors in Final Destination 2.[9]

Cook's performance met mixed reviews among critics. Robert Koehler of Variety said that "the giddy sequences also help in getting past the generally awful thesping, led by Cook, whose blurry grasp of emotions betrays Ellis' apparent disinterest in his actors."[10] David Grove of Film Threat panned Cook's acting, stating that "she’s no great actress, but she’s a real looker" and teased that "since when did a horror movie suffer from having two dumb blondes as leads", the other actress referring to Larter."[11] Dustin Putman of TheMovieBoy.com commented about Cook's emotional scenes:

Taking over where Devon Sawa's Alex took off, A. J. Cook (2001's "Out Cold") is serviceable as the premonition-fueled Kimberly, but doesn't evoke enough emotion in the scenes following the brutal deaths of her close friends.[12]

Nevertheless, Robin Clifford of Reeling Reviews stated that "Cook was strident as the catalyst that sparks events with her premonitions of disaster and her fervent desire to cheat the Reaper."[13] Brett Gallman of Oh, The Horror! claimed that Cook and fellow actor Michael Landes were "serviceable as leads."[14]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 David R. Ellis (director). Final Destination 2 in IMDb (Motion picture). New York, USA: New Line Cinema. Retrieved 19 September 2010.
  2. ↑ James Wong (director). Final Destination 3 (Widescreen Two-Disc Special Edition) (DVD). New York, USA: New Line Cinema. Retrieved 13 April 2011.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Collins, Nancy (January 2006). Final Destination 2. Black Flame. ISBN 1-84416-318-0.
  4. ↑ Film Threat. "Final Destination 2: No Crash Landing". Retrieved 27 March 2012.
  5. ↑ David R. Ellis. Final Destination 2: Cheating Death Beyond and Back (Videotape/DVD). New York, USA: New Line Cinema.
  6. ↑ David R. Ellis. Final Destination 2 (2003) (DVD). New York, USA: New Line Cinema. Retrieved 29 May 2011.
  7. ↑ Sandell, Alex (2002). "Final Destination 2". Juicy Cerebellum. Retrieved 9 May 2011.
  8. ↑ IMSDb. "Final Destination 2 Script at IMSDb". Retrieved 29 May 2011.
  9. ↑ Manning, Andrew (February 2003). "Radio Free Movie Review - Final Destination 2 (2003)". Radio Free Entertainment. Retrieved 9 May 2011.
  10. ↑ Koehler, Robert (28 January 2003). "Review: ‘Final Destination 2’". Variety. Retrieved 4 May 2011.
  11. ↑ Grove, David (5 February 2003). "Film Threat - Final Destination 2". Film Threat. Retrieved 27 March 2012.
  12. ↑ Putman, Dustin (2 February 2003). "Dustin Putman's Review - Final Destination 2 [2003]". TheMovieBoy.com. Retrieved 5 May 2011.
  13. ↑ Clifford, Robin. "Final Destination 2". Reeling Reviews. Retrieved 9 May 2011.
  14. ↑ Gallman, Brett (16 August 2009). "Horror Reviews - Final Destination 2 (2003)". Oh, The Horror!. Retrieved 27 March 2012.