Review of Left Behind (2014) by Kenny N — 18 Feb 2015

I've read the "Left Behind" books, and endured the awful "Left Behind: The Movie." When I heard a reboot of the franchise was happening, and that Nicolas Cage was going to be starring in it, I immediately got excited.

But before I ever saw this movie, I saw it hit by universally negative reviews on both secular and Christian websites. (It's got a 2% on here, meaning it's only 1% better than "Daddy Day Camp.

") I thought to myself, "Can a movie that trades in Kirk Cameron for Nicolas Cage really be that bad?" The answer is yes. For starters, this movie only focuses on 1/4 of the book. There's much more to this story than "Airplane!" with a few references to Jesus clumsily wedged into the stories.

An important storyline is missing involving Buck Williams' award winning story on a groundbreaking Israeli botanist., as is the main villain of the series. Substituted instead are several unnecessary characters who don't add anything to the original story.

(Most notably Jordin Sparks as a paranoid schizophrenic single Mom in a truly WTF performance.) They had the potential to make a better version of a fascinating concept with better actors and a bigger budget.

Instead, they made a movie that's LESS faithful to the original book, directed by a guy more comfortable with stunts and explosions than the human drama that the entire series hangs on. As for this being a "Christian" film.

..the references to Jesus and other aspects of Christianity are gratuitous and borderline exploitative. This movie has nothing of importance to say about how this whole affair ties into Christian teachings, it just throws it in wherever it looks like it will fit.

It's awkward, and doesn't give us the insight into the Word that is central to the very existence of this franchise. Overall, I give this one star for having a better cast than the original, but overall I'm thoroughly disappointed in this movie that I had such high hopes for.

But hey, at least we didn't have to suffer through another Kirk Cameron performance.