Left Behind Movie Review | 1/5

SINGAPORE — Based on the best-selling book of the same name, this film stars Nicolas Cage as Ray Steele, a pilot cast in a sudden apocalyptic hell-on-earth scenario.

Yes, once again, buildings are set ablaze, people are making off with wide-screen TVs and swiping cartons of Mountain Dew. Such is the stuff of Left Behind, a plot that’s been so grossly overused, it borderlines on pathological cliche.

The real action begins when millions of people across the globe start disappearing, leaving their clothes in a heap on the ground. The idea is that all those with a strong faith in God surreptitiously vanish and are presumably “taken” to heaven as part of a divine plan to cleanse the world of its sins.

Cage plays a pilot having to deal with the hysterics of his passengers when they realise that their loved ones are gone, all this happening whilst thousands of feet up in the air. Journalist Buck Williams (Chad Michael Murray), is one of the passengers of the plane who tries to make sense of the most devastating event in history, while Chloe Steele, Ray’s daughter (Cassi Thomson), is lost in the post-apocalyptic world trying to find her mother and brother.

The determination to make Left Behind a movie connect that with audiences on a deeper level seems rather one-sided, with director Vic Armstrong seemingly throwing visual effects into the film willy-nilly and brushing over the major plot holes. It doesn’t help that film’s sound design is not only tacky, but comes across like something out of a ’90s commercial. You eventually get annoyed at some point during the movie, which isn’t even close to revealing the true nature of the events, but rather revolving around the need of a central heroic character to emerge victorious in the face of adversity.

And as usual, the main characters stumble out of the chaos and end the movie by gazing hopefully into the distance, presumably lamenting their decision to star in this flick.

(PG, 111 mins)