Left Behind

A reboot of Left Behind: The Movie, Left Behind is an apocalyptic film, based on the New York Times’ bestselling novel, that brings biblical prophecy to life in the present day world--and on board an aeroplane, during a transatlantic flight, piloted by the protagonist.

The biblical Rapture strikes the world. Millions of people disappear without a trace. All that remains are their clothes and belongings, terror and chaos spread around the world. The vanishings cause unmanned vehicles to crash and burn. Planes fall from the sky. Steele family is caught on the razor’s edge of that darkness. Ray Steele, the pilot, struggles to calm, and ultimately, to save the lives of the passengers that remain on his flight. Ray must guide the plane with the help of reporter, Cameron “Buck” Williams. On the ground, Ray’s daughter Chloe struggles to find her young brother and mother, both of whom may have disappeared in the Biblical event.

Dr. Tim LaHaye is a noted author, minister, counsellor, and nationally recognised speaker on Bible prophecy. It was LaHaye's idea to fictionalise an account of the Rapture and the Tribulation. "Sitting on airplanes and watching the pilots," he told People magazine, "I'd think to myself, 'What if the Rapture occurred on an airplane?'" LaHaye looked for a co-writer for several years and was then introduced to Jerry B. Jenkins through their mutual agent. Jerry B. Jenkins, former vice president for publishing at Moody Bible Institute of Chicago, is the author of more than 175 books, including the Left Behind series. Jenkins assisted Dr. Billy Graham with his autobiography, Just as I Am, also a New York Times best-seller. Jerry spent thirteen months working with Dr. Graham, which he considers the privilege of a lifetime. He owns Jenkins Entertainment, a film-making company in Los Angeles, which produced the critically acclaimed movie Midnight Clear, based on his book of the same name. Jerry B. Jenkins wrote the book, with and from an idea by Tim LaHaye. Paul Lalonde and John Patus, who worked on the World at War (2005) together, have written the screenplay for the reboot.

Great credentials, but less than mediocre movie. Why? Faith and fiction are strange bedfellows. It needed great talent to bring this story to the screen and pull it off convincingly. That has not happened. If the Bible is to remain the pivot, you need a special audience. If the film is made to entertain, many vital things have been left behind. The film does a good job establishing the characters in the first one-third of screen time. But once the Rapture begins, it is crash after crash, fall after fall, narrow miss after narrow miss, disappearance after disappearance, wandering after wandering, befuddled main actors after befuddled main actors.

Director-editor Victor Monroe Armstrong, 68, is a BAFTA winning British film director, stunt co-ordinator, second unit director, and stunt double, the world's most prolific, according to the Guinness Book of Records. The 6-foot Armstrong doubled for 6'1" Harrison Ford in the first three Indiana Jones films. The stunt where he jumps from a horse onto a German tank in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade was voted one of the Top Ten film stunts of all time by a panel of experts and Sky Movies. On a private photograph taken on the film set, Ford wrote to Armstrong, "If you learn to talk I'm in deep trouble!" Armstrong's first film as a director was the 1993 action film Joshua Tree/Army of One, starring Dolph Lundgren and George Segal. In Left Behind, the crashes and disappearances, seen in isolation, are slickly done. Where he falters is in putting it all together. At the heart of Left Behind is a deeply emotional story about a man, his religious wife, his girl-friend, his daughter and his son. There are moments when this track holds your attention, but the mayhem submerges the sentiments.

A bad piece of casting is Nicolas Cage as Rayford Steele. What has happened to him? Let us remember that it was Cage’s portrayal of a tormented Vietnam vet in Birdy that first established him as a serious actor. Birdy won the jury prize at Cannes. Cage then received a Golden Globe nomination as Best Actor for his role as Cher’s lover in Moonstruck. Wild at Heart won the Palme d’Or at the 1990 Cannes Film Festival. Cage did some inconsequential action films in the last decade or so, and one would have thought that this fine actor with a highly emotive, soft face would have learnt that a plethora of screen explosions calamities and mean characters are not his milieu. In Left Behind, he often resorts to amateurish hamming that can only be attributed to a newcomer. Armstrong must take equal blame for not getting the actor’s nuances and the reactions right.

Lea Thompson, who plays Irene Steele, is perhaps best known for her role as the various incarnations of Lorraine McFly in Back to the Future I, II, and III. She has a brief role here, and acts passably. Chad Murray (Fruitvale Station, The Haunting in Connecticut 2: Ghosts of Georgia, Cavemen, A Madea Christmas) is cast as Buck Williams. He shows some enthusiasm. Cassi Thomson does a good job as Chloe Steele. Nicky Whelan as the object of Ray’s illicit desires fills the bill.

Rating: *1/2

Trailer: http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/08/06/new-left-behind-trailer-reveals-total-and-utter-apocalyptic-chaos-that-unfolds-in-rapture-themed-thriller/