A heavy HEAVY note: I might sound like a grumpy, silly Gus in this review but if you hopefully keep reading know there was a reason. I still have yet to see the remake (I’m STILL unsure about getting to it) and this review seems harsh about the “original” movie version at first but know that with its sequel I am completely different on what I think there. Plus not bragging but I have the 3-movie set so yes, I do NOT hate this movie series!

Genre: Drama/ Apocalyptic

Rated: PG-13 (might not be good for youngsters) Contains violence and one scene of sensuality

Rating: Fair (2 stars out of 5)

Synopsis: “Buck” Cameron Williams, a well-known news reporter, has caught the biggest story of his life. It turns out that a man in Israel has invented something that will draw all to desire it as it might spell the end of famine in the entire world. But as he makes the innocent interview an attack on the land begins and soon after there are happenings which lead to an unprecedented event. Later, a shocking event occurs where people all over the world disappear and leaving the others wondering just how such a dramatic “rapture” of millions happened. But there are some who have known as they had been warned over and over about the end of the world and shrugged off the people as religious nuts. Was salvation now too late? They the doubters have now become left behind, and God’s wrath would continue to occur to hurtling the earth towards days it had never experienced before (for the worst).

Review: What to say about this film? There is actually so much! This might just be my longest movie review on here because I want to tap into so much but overall I want to give you reader, an overview. I want to cover its production, the cast in the film, and finally its brutal critiques (and I guess I am unintentionally adding to that here today, I just want to talk about the good and bad about this film).

Firstly I want to talk about the good. Let me again say how much I do like this story (based on the New York Times bestselling book series starting with “Left Behind” and a total of about twelve main books, two prequels, and spinoffs most of the them penned by the now late author Tim Lahaye) which offers an intriguing glimpse, an idea of just how the end of the world could happen if it followed the books in the bible. This book series I think is really notable, it being the first book series about a rapture story to attract believers and non-believers alike. No day I think went by without going to a bookstore and seeing this and the following others being publicly displayed alongside other well-known titles and upcoming newer authors.

To see that it finally managed a film deal and was produced was notable too. The one thing that is common though, as groundbreaking as these books were, they were picked up by a low-budget film company in Canada called Cloud 9 Pictures. They licensed the rights from Namesake Entertainment, which licensed them from the book’s authors Tim Lahaye and Jerry B. Jenkins. The rights were given to the filmmakers for the first two of the books from the Left Behind series.

Yes Lahaye expected a huge big-budget blockbuster to debut in the theaters (he was very into movies and trying to create movie-like scenes seemingly in hopes people could recreate those on the silver screen). But with a budget of 4 million dollars, the film titled Left Behind: The Movie was produced and released doing only what its backers and producers could do financially. Though receiving negative reviews the film and the short series managed to stay fairly popular with direct-to-video audiences (though this film had a limited yet theatrical release after being available to home-watchers).

Before I digress further let me focus on the film’s visual production. Yes it seems quite dated now but visually it’s lit well and does a great job showing off its attractive cast. There are a few great moments within the film that are pulled off well. My favorite (slight spoilers) is how it frames the apparent creation of the series in general. (Again I digress, haha) Lahaye came up with the series when he witnessed a pilot flirt with a flight attendant. Knowing the man was married he thought, “Just what if the end of the world happened right then? How would he feel if that had happened after doing such an act…?”

The film introduces the “pilot” with the “flight attendant” surprisingly in a nearly naughty way. Their relationship is budding though the pilot hopes they could take the next step, a direction they both had been hoping for. As they talk of their lustful feelings for each other the two then lean in for a kiss. Then the disappearances happen. When the film cuts back to the duo, they still hadn’t met lips but are thrown off by the plane’s panic that they are no longer thinking in that moment of their hopeful affair.

Another plus of this film. They really worked hard to go to “Show” versus “Tell.” If you want to make a book into a film you must do visual over internal, like having a character’s thoughts  be said allowed if film et cetera. This film makes a few small but improving changes in that respect: Buck Williams a reporter has been changed from a magazine editor/writer to a tv reporter as well as the state of the company he works for; the major characters get swept through in a clever device. The wife and pilot, the daughter, and young child all given intros at once that somehow are done easily yet don’t feel rushed; also lastly the finale in the film is like film magic. A kind of frightening take, especially once the audience is let in on the deception to what’s going on.

Okay now I will get into the cons or the “bad” stuff about this movie.

First I realize I must talk about the main gist of why I rated this pretty low. What is important to me in a Christian movie? The message! I mean that the moment the story gives the gospel. This was possibly the most restrained film concerning a story so bent on giving a Christian message that in effect it seemed like it almost forgot to have one. I think possibly the reason for that was this film was pushing to be seen in theaters and they got self-conscious about it so they decided not to “preach” to the viewers. There are wisps or an air of the gospel in the film scattered here and there but it’s kind of disappointing to be honest. Though I realized this is possibly due to a wave of Christians who would bring their friends to a Christian film only to lead the viewer to Christ if they did feel the “pull” on their heart to believe and trust in Jesus. Sadly that kind of cinema is becoming less and less prevalent nowadays, especially because films like this just do not get exposure if at all anymore (Note: The much-advertised Left Behind 2014 movie was not available anywhere in my area. I had three locations to see the film all from a movie theater chain! I wanted to at least to check it out but it seemed AMC did not approve of the film so it didn’t exist in their eyes, I guess!).

Also the music and cast were interesting to say the least. Bryan Duncan, an 80’s music star recorded and made for the film its theme song (it can be heard during the family introduction). So when this film released it was nearly at the end of a new century yet strangely the song sounds like it’s still stuck in the 80’s. Why was it planned like this (though it is a catchy song I have to admit)?

Also the cast does each their own part well they all come from television making this film almost feel more like a tv-movie special. From Clarence Gilyard (Walker: Texas Ranger) to Kirk Cameron (from sitcom Growing Pains fame) as the main character “Buck” Williams, pretty much everyone in this film seemed to get their fame from the silver screen.

All in all I do not regret seeing this film. Yes I was disappointed about aspects of it but overall I feel like the film series gets just a little better after this. I also appreciate that this film did not risk getting gritty and extremely violent (though some moments are unscathed from the book like Alan’s car explosion death) like the book series was kind of known for. I feel if they had gone that route they would probably miss out on giving a message while not as importantly get the usual “wow this Christian film is hypocritical” shouts from non-believers, strict Christians and critics alike.

It gives a message while at times vaguely Christian (seriously I don’t think “Jesus” was mentioned even once in this film!) is still worth at least giving a try before seeing anything that might hamper one’s chance to indulge in a Christian type of story (ahem ahem, Nick Cage, cough! Sorry, something was caught in my throat!).