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 s a mea culpa, let me say that I’m a Buddhist – and a
sometimes too lapsed one at that. What does this have to do with the movie Left
Behind? For those who don’t know, Left Behind is a feature-length
adaptation of a popular and best-selling series of novels that focuses on an
“end of the world” scenario as prophesized in the bible. What does all this
mean? Most of all it means those who are unable to not snicker whenever
they hear a bible passage behind recited need not bother. I have very little
personal interest in the bible or its passages myself, but I also don’t have
any disdain for those who read it religiously, and hence the movie’s concept
of “end of the world as predicted by the bible” didn’t turn me off. A
movie is a movie, and concepts are just that – movie concepts.
Left Behind stars Kirk Cameron (TV’s “Growing
Pains”) as Buck Williams, an international news reporter for GNN (think CNN
but with a “G”). While doing a story on Professor Rosenzweig (Colin Fox), a
Jew who has developed a secret formula to grow crops out of the desert, Buck
witnesses a mass invasion of Israel by Arab forces. Before the Israelis can
respond, unknown forces mysteriously destroy the Arab planes! Before you can say
“Isn’t that one of the signs of the apocalypse?” people begin to
disappear, literally vanishing into thin air leaving their clothes and jewelry
behind (re: material possessions). Just what is going on here? Intrepid reporter
Buck is going to find out come hell or high water. Meanwhile, an adulterous
pilot (Brad Johnson) tries to come to terms with his wife and son’s
disappearance, and confront his own sins…
Bible prophesies aside, Left Behind is buoyed by an
intriguing concept. It rolls the end of the world, the coming of an anti-Christ,
and corporate conspiracy all into one entertaining ball. I have always been a
sucker for post-apocalyptic movies regardless of “how” the end comes about,
so Left Behind’s premise – the end of the world by means of celestial
prophecy – is one of the better ones I’ve run across yet.
The above having been said, Left Behind suffers
greatly from poor production values, particularly in the beginning during the
“invasion” of Israel. The planes and tanks are obviously CGI, and quite
shoddy CGI at that. The movie also maintains a consistent B-movie vibe
throughout, which is mostly the fault of director Victor Sarin, a long-time TV
director. Sarin handles the background actors poorly, and as a result people
seem to be moving to and fro on automatic pilot. The soldiers are also poorly
directed, looking like too-obviously fake extras instead of actual people.
The acting, led by former TV star Kirk Cameron as the
improbably named Buck Williams, is sometimes off-kilter. Cameron looks
uncomfortable playing the intrepid reporter, but he does gradually grow on you,
mostly because you can’t help but like Mike Seaver. Whatever his true age,
Cameron still looks much too young and boyish for the role of a famous and
hardened international reporter. Brad Johnson, as pilot Ray, does a better job
as the adulterous husband who confronts his sins only after his wife and son are
“taken” by God. Johnson and Janaya Stephens, playing Ray’s daughter Chloe,
has the movie’s best scenes.
In truth, I would have prefer the movie to focus on Ray and
Chloe’s struggles to come to terms with missing the other half of their
family. Instead much of the film follows Buck’s pursuit of the movie’s
conspiracy angle. Such as it is the conspiracy is executed as rather silly and
with all the excitement of a connect-the-dots drawing.
In a strange way, the movie might have worked best had it
chucked the conspiracy angle and the whole biblical prophecy thing. A better
movie might have been one that concerned itself with Ray, Chloe, and the rest of
the world as they struggle to cope with half of the world having vanished into
thin air without explanation. Of course this would completely destroy the
movie’s insistence on a biblical prophecy, but it needn’t completely do away
with the “righteousness” of those who disappeared and the presence of some
“God,” as well as the “sins” of those who remained. All of these
questions could have become internal, private battles within individuals.
Detractors of Left Behind will no doubt be most
riled by the film’s deeply rooted belief in God and the bible’s ancient
passages. This reaction would be a mistake, since the movie should be best
looked on as an “end of the world” film with a low budget. Even if one
refuses to believe in the biblical apocalypse nonsense, Left Behind is
entertaining enough that I am anxious to see how it continues.
Although I have to admit, with all the bloodshed going on
in the Middle East right now, things are starting to get…weird.
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