Left Behind (2014)

  

MPAA Rating	Reason	Running Time	Distributor	Theatrical Release date
PG-13	Some thematic elements, violence/peril and brief drug content.	110 minutes	Stoney Lake Entertainment	October 3, 2014

To paraphrase a quote from the bible: “Oh, how the mighty hath fallen”

This is the second incarnation of “Left Behind”, which debuted in 2000 as a grassroots effort in which Kirk Cameron led that film. Despite being labelled as a direct-to-video feature (before going theatrical a mere two months later), it did manage to sneak into a handful of theaters before making two more direct-to-video sequels. The first series was released at a time when Christian films were nudging at the door. For the 2014 reboot, this time the film gets a Hollywood treatment and a major star power player in Nicolas Cage. Unfortunately, as hard as he tries (and for one, he doesn’t go all out crazy on us but gives us a more somber and melodramatic approach), the film can’t be overlooked for it’s major flaws.

The movie, which is based on the first book of the widely successful apocalyptic series, covers only a fraction of the book and focuses on the day of the Rapture, an interesting premise but poorly conceived in its execution. Cage plays an airline pilot by the name of Rayford Steele, who is called to work on his birthday on a London flight. Returning on break from college, his daughter Chloe (Cassi Thomson) plans on surprising him before his departure. During his flight, the unthinkable happens when some of the passengers, including his co-pilot, mysteriously vanish (yes, including the children). Desperate to get back to his family, Ray turns the plane around back to New York. Complications arise when the plane gets in a mid-air collision and starts losing fuel, cutting off all functions on the airline itself.

Nicolas Cage and Chad Michael Murray, who essentially plays investigate news reporter/journalist Cameron “Buck” Williams, try to do a good job making the best of what they’ve been given. I wanted to try and give this the benefit of the doubt, but it eventually succeeded to levels I thought were never possible: they actually succeeded in making this film WORSE than the previous version (as producer/screenwriter Paul Lalonde also helmed). The film has so many plot holes, shady dialogue. Even the film starts out from the get go from it comes to talking about God and the Bible. Nicky Whelan plays the flight stewardess Hattie Durham and Lea Thompson has an extended cameo role as Rayford’s wife who is among the taken.

The ending of the film promises a sequel, and Paul Lalonde has mentioned that if this film does well then a trilogy will proceed as planned. (And yes, there is a series of books: 16 in all.) As he stated during the promotional rollout, “‘Left Behind’ is based on a true story, it hasn’t happened yet.” It’s an insult to not only the viewer, but to the audience, to try and force something down our throats and call it enlightened entertainment, rather than covering it up with poor scripted dialogue, unfinished shots, wooden acting, and bad performances.