Review of Left Behind (2014) by Ginny M — 07 Oct 2014

I am going to make an honest attempt to do what most of the movie critics are not doing and that is to set aside my own personal bias and prejudices and review this film as objectively as possible in comparing it to other like movies that I have seen (without actually mentioning those movies). In that light, then I will review the quality of the acting, the quality of the production, and the quality of the screenplay itself as it compares to the original book series which made the #1 New York Times best seller list and has sold 63+ million copies to date. Because these prophetic events have not taken place yet I will use the same tact that book series authors Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins have taken and treat the subject as science fiction, which is how the movie is billed besides action, adventure, fantasy, and thriller.

Nicolas Cage (Rayford Steele) and Leah Tompson (Irene Steele) were the only two actors that I really had a lot of previous familiarity with, though Gary Grubbs (Dennis) and Martin Klebba (Melvin Weir) stood out as well in my memory from their previous cinema and television roles. The other main actors are probably more recognized by the younger generations behind me and they would include Chad Michael Murray (Buck Williams) who mainly did movies and Nicky Whelan (Hattie Durham) and Cassi Thomson (Chloe Steele) who did mainly TV roles. For the actors who I am familiar with, I thought they played their roles in a very compelling way on or above par with their previous roles. Cage, the top-billed star of Left Behind, was very convincing in his demeanor before and after the Rapture and left me being drawn into his character instead of simply watching a detached actor and I can say the same for Tompson as well. All the main actors did well and garnered my mental and emotional attention.

The production was made on a moderate budget ($15M) and it was reflected in the quality of the audio and selection of background music, both of which weren't bad but could have been improved upon for this audiophile. The rest of the production was done quite well all things considered and I really liked the panicked rioters, crash scenes of driverless/pilotless vehicles and planes and the depiction of the widespread chaos, terror, and despair of humanity left behind after the Rapture along with the personal artifacts (i.e. clothes and jewelry, one scene particularly mind-bending) belonging to about a third of their former members, the only evidence of their pre-Rapture existence. Pretty stunning and thought-provoking when you consider it.

How did the movie compare with the books? Well, when you realize that this just touched on the first of 12 books (not counting the 4 prequels published later) the producers are definitely going to have to keep this franchise going or there will be a lot of frustrated viewers including me, especially the way the movie ended. Moreover, as with most movies produced from books, a lot will be cut out and sometimes rearranged and Left Behind was no exception, though the screenplay seemed pretty seamless and linear with a couple of exceptions. As science fiction, the storyline was pretty convincing and put together in a logical way from scene to scene with different parts and or characters panning out and occurring simultaneously. Nevertheless, it was still comprehensible and made for a pretty good story.

One final word, and I will admit to being biased at this point. I have been promoting this movie for about a month now and my evangelical world-view embraces the eventual apocalyptic drama that Left Behind attempts to depict. You can ignore the movie critics and negative one-star reviewers for this simple reason. Faith-based movies are a direct affront to atheists, some agnostics, and theological liberals and when you read their reviews, their negative bias comes out loud and clear. It's not the quality of the production they have a problem with, but the message contained therein and they are offended by it. It is the same pattern over and over again towards faith-based movies. The one-star critics and their irrational hate-based triads and the 10-star faithful, who are somewhat just as irrational in their loyalty towards these movies whether they are really any good or not. Left Behind in my opinion was a good medium budget production on par with the majority of the films I've seen. It was a satisfying movie for me and will buy the Blu-Ray (or DVD) when it comes out.