Review of Left Behind (2014) by Yorkman — 11 Jan 2016

There is absolutely nothing redeeming about this movie. NOTHING! AT ALL!!

The story is simple, perhaps a little too simple for anyone who finds the religious rhetoric completely meaningless, something this film does nothing to appease.

Essentially the plot revolves Nic Cage's character, Rayford Steele (No, really, that's his name! The Captain of a passenger aeroplane), and his fiesty, precocious, teenage daughter Chloe (Cassi Thomas).

During the opening narrative it's made clear that Ray isn't an especially nice person, he's sleeping with one of the air hostesses and actively lying to both his wife Irene (Lea Thompson) as well as Chloe. Irene is shown to be a devout Christian during the scenes in the Steele household, replete with iconography and Bible, and it is clear the marriage is effectively over.

Ray pilots his plane into the air, whilst Chloe takes her little brother Rayford jr. to the local Mall. All Hell breaks loose (pun intended) when all the children and several adults just disappear, leaving their clothes/belongings behind. The same thing happens on the plane too, leaving mothers distraught and everyone in a state of shock.

What follows is an hour or semantic religious nonsense as those in the air try to rationalise the events as the Rapture, whilst those on the ground quickly resort to looting and adopt a survival of the fittest attitude. Law and order effectively break down, and Chloe has to defend herself against the marauding herds.

Eventually Ray approaches the airport (having turned his plane around mid-flight to come 'home'), but air traffic control doesn't seem to be there. Instead Chloe (chatting to her father via their Mobiles) manages to McGyver up a runway using an unopened stretch of freeway and lighting it up so Ray knows where to land.

The film finishes with Ray, Chloe and the other passengers lamenting on what's been lost, but also announcing their undiminished spirit by saying they'll rebuild.

It's hard to define what this film is. If it's meant to be a serious drama, using Religious metaphors and the idea of the Rapture to suggest Christianity still has a place in any modern, progressive, Democratic country.... Then it fails, badly.

If it's meant to be a comedy, using over the top performances and a sensibility you can't take seriously.... Then it fails, badly.

It's not like the acting is good, everyone in the film is terrible. Nic Cage doesn't even give the audience one of his 'Patent-pending' freak-outs, and this is a film in which the narrative would wholeheartedly support one (or two, or ten!!).

The sets are pathetic, the outdoor sequences are badly lit, the score is forgettable...

But it's the Direction which is worst of all. Whoever directed this film should never be allowed behind the camera again.

Nothing looks right, no set-ups are done well, even the action scenes (which the Director could have just lifted the camerawork from better films to try and replicate them) are devoid of both scope and any sense of belief on the audiences part.

There's no sense of fear for the characters, no suggestion their 'danger' will lead to their deaths etc....

It's just bad in every single way imaginable.

Anyone who defends this film will fail, unless they are religious zealots for whom the idea of 'faith' transcends logic or any other defined faculty of the mind.