Left Behind (2014)
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 Even Rayford Steele looked disappointed.
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Left Behind is a 2014 American apocalyptic thriller film directed by Vic Armstrong and written by Paul LaLonde and John Patus. The film stars Nicolas Cage, Chad Michael Murray, Cassi Thomson, Nicky Whelan, Lea Thompson, and Jordin Sparks. The film is based on a novel by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins. The film was directed by Vic Armstrong. The film is a loose remake of the 2000 film Left Behind: The Movie by Kirk Cameron. Despite it being a remake of the original, this version has major changes than the original version.
Plot
Airline pilot Rayford Steele finds out that something apocalyptic is going to happen as he goes to work. It gets more awkward from there.
Production
On August 7, 2008, Cloud Ten Pictures entered into a settlement agreement resolving the two lawsuits against it and Namesake Entertainment, which co-produced the original trilogy. The suit was filed by Tim LaHaye. The settlement ended a legal dispute over the Left Behind film rights that began in 2000. On October 1, 2010, Cloud Ten again reacquired rights to the film, paving the way for a reboot of the Left Behind film series.
By October 31, 2011, Paul LaLonde and John Patus, who worked on World at War together, had written a screenplay for the reboot. By October 19, 2012, stunt artist Vic Armstrong was set to direct the reboot film with the budget around $15 million.
Casting
By October 19, 2012, Nicolas Cage was in talks to join the cast, as portraying lead character Rayford Steele. In December 2012, Chad Michael Murray was in talks to join the cast, to play the role of journalist Cameron "Buck" Williams. On January 3, 2013, Ashley Tisdale joined to play the role of Chloe Steele in the film, but later dropped out due to scheduling conflicts. In March 2013, Tia Mowry was in talks to join the cast. In August 2013 Jordin Sparks and Cassi Thomson joined the lead cast, the latter replacing Tisdale as Chloe Steele. On August 19, 2013, Olympic bobsledder and hurdler Lolo Jones joined the cast, portraying an airport gate attendant. On September 9, 2013, Lea Thompson was cast as Rayford Steele's wife, Irene.
The character Nicolae Carpathia, the antagonist in the book series and 2000 film, does not appear in the film.
Filming
Principal photography began on August 9, 2013, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Release
The film was released in theaters on October 3, 2014, in the United States via Stoney Lake Entertainment.
Home media
Left Behind was released via DVD and Blu-ray Disc on January 6, 2015.
Why It Should Be Left Behind
- The subject matter of the end of the world is dumb and cliché ridden. Not only that, but the religious themes of the film are highly offensive and ham-fisted. It's like almost like a Westboro-Christian propaganda film in which only the elected people, the pure righteous, and the children are going to Heaven while everyone else will be forced to suffer God's wrath.
- Speaking of which, one character who gets left behind on the plane is a Muslim, which can be insulting to people who worship Islam, which it's considered Islamophobia.
- It isn't scary, and it lacks suspense and drama.
- Awful acting, especially from Nicolas Cage.
- The characters range from stupid to hateful.
- A bunch of scenes jump back and forth and are distracting.
- Product placement including Chick-Fil-A.
- Bad CGI editing.
- While Nicolas Cage's character gets a fair amount of screen time, the film mainly focuses on Chloe, Buck, the passengers, and no one else in the film.
The Only Redeeming Quality
- Despite WISBLB#8, Nicolas Cage's character does get a lot of screen time and a fair amount too.
Reception
Left Behind was panned by critics and audiences. The film currently holds a 0% on Rotten Tomatoes with an average of 2.1 out of 10 and a critic consensus that reads "Yea verily, like unto a plague of locusts, Left Behind hath begat a further source of devastation upon Nicolas Cage's once-proud filmography." Gary Goldman of The Los Angeles Times described the film as "A shoo-in to clean up at the next Razzie Awards." Bilge Ebiri of New York Magazine/Vulture stated in his review "Left Behind is biblical in its silliness." Christy Lemire of RogerEbert.com awarded the film a one star out of four and stated in her review "It should have more smoldering panic bursting into full-blown freak-outs. It should have more passion, more intensity. It should have more bees." Amy Nicholson of L.A. Weekly stated, "It believes people might buy a ticket to Left Behind and not know the twist, like someone sitting down to watch Godzilla and being shocked by the entrance of a giant lizard."
Chris Stuckmann gave the film an F. Stuckmann later ranked the film at #1 in his Top 10 Worst Movies of 2014 list.
Box Office
The film opened at #6 on its opening weekend with a domestic gross of $6,300,147. Its total domestic gross was $14,019,924. In foreign box offices, it made $5,663,000. Overall, Left Behind made $19,682,924 against its $16 million budget. The film was a box office disaster.
Awards and nominations
Left Behind was nominated for three Golden Raspberry Awards including Worst Picture, Worst Actor, and Worst Screenplay, but lost the Awards to Saving Christmas, which coincidentally starred Kirk Cameron, who was in the original Left Behind film.
Videos
Trivia
- There were plans to make two sequels for the film. Fortunately, the plans were cancelled due to little funding for the projects as a result of the first film getting panned by critics and due to the poor box office returns.
External Links
Left Behind at the Internet Movie Database
Left Behind on Rotten Tomatoes
Left Behind on Metacritic
Left Behind on Letterboxd- Christy Lemire's review of Left Behind
Comments
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