Left Behind

Left Behind_360P

Simply amazed by how many aircrafts they've used to shoot this movie. At the gate: Airbus A300. When it's flying: Boeing 767. When the camera shoot the flight deck from outside (and yes, with Nicholas Cage in it): Boeing 747. When it performed emergency landing (on a thin highway): Boeing 737. When everybody is safe and sound, and the aircraft behind were shown laying around: Boeing 717. Wow. They must be having soooo much money to use five different types of aircraft for one movie.

This movie was simply AWFUL. Really, really bad. And to those who are going to argue that the reason why this movie is rated so low is because people are becoming "anti- Christian", NO. The acting was terrible, the script was horrendous, seriously. A group of high school kids in drama club could do better. It was deathly boring, i thought I was in there for more than three hours. Worst of all is the message its trying to send. Isn't it curious that the movie tried so hard to portray all of those that were left as bad messed up people? So is that supposed to mean that those who don't believe in the Christian God are all either cheaters, flirts, gamblers, thieves, drug addicts and just generally messed up? Because that's what I saw. Don't think I wouldn't catch that. I get that its a Christian movie but its still a pretty offensive way of showing off your faith. Even in the Philippines, which is predominantly made up of believers, people in the theatre couldn't help but laugh at how absolutely ridiculous everything was. Worst movie EVER

This film is so banal it takes the banality out of The Banal. The premise is absurd. The unravelling of the plot is absurd. The performances are, at best, distracted as is the direction. Even the actors seem unconvinced. I'm still kicking myself for watching this film. Sin and purity are depicted with juvenile simplicity. Religious bias is arrogantly displayed (but I'll leave that to the unfortunate viewer to spot). Complex ideas like forgiveness, atonement and judgement are reduced to idiocy at an atomic level. I apologise if this sounds too much like a rant but for someone who watches well over 15 films a week, I have never subjected myself to anything this offensive (to the senses) in over 25 years.

I had some so called Christian folks, talking and writing about awful this left behind is, I think I should quick remind you, this movie is not for pleasures neither was it produced for entertainment purposes, the aim of this movie, is to still ring a bell of rapture and eternity. JESUS IS COMING AGAIN, IF YOU ARE PREPARED FOR HIM, WHEN HE COMES HE WILL TAKE YOU WITH HIM TO HEAVEN, BUT IF YOU ARE NOT HE WILL LEAVE YOU BEHIND, AND YOU WILL SUFFER THE PAIN OF THE ANTICHRIST, JESUS STILL LOVES YOU, YOU SHALL NOT MISS THE RAPTURE.

Be born again

most ppl r hating this movie buh let me tell you something before you watch this movie know if you're a believer or not because only true believers can watch this movie with their heart this movie is a WARNING not Entertainment "THOSE WHO HAS EAR LET THEM HEED"

source: Left Behind

Instead of letting his wife convulse in skimpy outfits onstage to convince people into embracing Christianity, the pastor in question could have used the funds to make a movie on hindsight like what Stoney Lake Entertainment has done here. For the uninitiated, Stoney Lake Entertainment is set up to produce faith-inspired films for the masses and their intention is to create a franchise for Left Behind which in turn is based on a series of popular books by Jerry B. Jenkins and Tim LaHaye. This is not the first time Left Behind is being made into a movie however, in actual fact it was originally done in the year 2000 and followed by two other sequels. Lake's CEO Paul Lalonde co-wrote this remake that involved the biblical Rapture where faithful believers are taken up to heaven before the apocalyptic end of days. The narrative begins with the Steele family at the JFK airport. Father Ray Steele (Nicolas Cage) is an airline pilot who is struggling to keep both his marriage and children together while beginning an affair with a sultry air stewardess. His daughter Chloe (Cassi Thomson) is upset by his father's absence and she also has problems understanding issues of God especially with her religiously inclined mother. Within seconds of the opening credits, we are treated to a shot of a book called "Acts of God" and seconds later, a woman begins rambling about the end of the world to a supposedly famous TV reporter, Buck Williams (Chad Michael Murray). There isn't much subtlety to talk about and the frequent hackneyed writing and wooden performances worsen the viewing experience further. The touted Rapture happens about an hour later. On the flight where Ray is piloting to London, dozens of passengers and all the children onboard just vanished, leaving behind fear and lots of head scratching. On the ground, the same strange occurrence happened. Chloe's younger brother mysteriously vanishes at the mall leaving behind his belongings. Petty crimes, looting and robberies starts happening everywhere. It is the end of the world people, so everyone just has the urge to commit crimes. That makes a lot of sense. Because this is a character driven drama with good religious intentions, we are treated to more subplots and stock characters on the plane. For example, the obligatory Muslim passenger (who might be a terrorist), an annoying little man, a black woman who pulls out a gun out of nowhere, and a rich business man who suddenly develops concern for his estranged daughter; meanwhile, Chloe is playing Supergirl helping Daddy land his huge malfunctioning plane on a deserted highway. No worries though, Daddy has a helping hand as co- pilot- the handsome and attractive Chuck. Technically, this US$16 million production is often hampered by poor visual effects, sloppy editing and laughingly, a weird 1980s look to the entire flick. The usually entertaining Nicolas Cage with his batshit crazy acting turns up pretty somber and underwhelming. Left Behind is a heavy-handed, preachy movie disguised as an apocalyptic action thriller. Even veteran stunt coordinator Vic Armstrong who helmed this project couldn't make this any better. This movie is best left for believers while the rest might prefer to sign up for bible study for a start.

I saw "Left Behind" because I have a strange hobby...to watch as many of the films as I can from IMDB's infamous Bottom 100 list. This list consists of the 100 lowest rated mainstream releases. So, obviously this is for horrible films, and I assumed the movie was horrible. The problem is...it's not a bad movie at all! So why is it on the list? I have three theories. First, it's become very fashionable lately to hate Nicholas Cage. Two of his films (this one and the remake of "Wicker Man") are on this list...yet neither is a bad film....but folk love to talk about how rotten an actor he is. He was just fine in "Left Behind". Second, the film has a super-narrow appeal...to Evangelical Christians...in particular folks like Baptists, Church of God and other such denominations. Why? Because these churches tend to preach about the end times and the Rapture. Other denominations, such as Methodists, Lutherans and Catholics do not generally hold this doctrine. So, if folks who aren't brought up hearing about the Rapture see the film, they are probably more likely to dislike the plot. Finally, my other thought is perhaps some group of folks have flooded IMDB with scores of 1 (such as how 4chan has attacked a few films en masse). All I know is technically speaking, it's a decent production...not nearly earning the abysmal score of 3.1 it currently has. The story centers on a particular family. The father (Cage) and daughter are not thrilled that the mother (Lea Thompson) has become a Bible-thumping Christian. However, they are shocked when Mom, other believing Christians and all the children instantly vanish....sending the world into total chaos. It's really bad for Cage, as he's piloting an airliner over the Atlantic when all this occurs. Generally, the film kept me interested and was decent. A few things I didn't like were the ending where the plane made an emergency landing....you just have to see it to believe, I mean NOT believe it. Second, I thought the tiny man was a bit overplayed. Who is THAT hostile?? But apart from all that, a decent film....with decent production values and acting.