Left Behind Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		1.0
Video		4.0
Audio		3.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		1.5

Left Behind Blu-ray Movie Review

The title is not, repeat not, a reference to Nicolas Cage's career.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman January 18, 2015

Christian eschatology is an especially sticky wicket to try to understand, but for those who may not be up to speed on the concept of the Rapture, consider this section from Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians:

But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who have died, so that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have died. For this we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will by no means precede those who have died. For the Lord himself, with a cry of command, with the archangel's call and with the sound of God's trumpet, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air; and so we will be with the Lord forever.

The actual reason for Paul’s letter seemed to be to assuage some worries believers had about what exactly was the “sorting order” for already dead folks and those who were still walking the Earth when Jesus’ second coming occurred. As with so much else in Scripture, what was probably initially a fairly narrowly focused response has been elaborated upon through the years (including in other Scripture) to where there’s a whole mythology (for want of a better term) built up around the idea that living folks are going to get “called back to Christ” at some point in the either foreseeable or unforeseeable future, at which point the nonbelievers will be, er, left behind to duke it out amongst themselves as anarchy or some other Satanic force holds sway on the planet.

A wiser religious scholar than I would have to explain the logic of a Divine Being snatching away only a certain select, but unfortunately the film’s first dogmatic adherent as to “why” this all happens is not such a learned purveyor of wisdom, but instead a rather smug, self important seeming woman who meets reporter Buck Williams (Chad Michael Murray) and who is interrupted by Chloe Steele (Cassi Thomson), the daughter of philandering jet pilot Rayford Steele (Nicolas Cage). The woman accosts Buck with the question “Do you read the Bible?,” because of course that’s the first question that anyone would ask a globetrotting journalism superstar who’s passing through. The woman goes on to quote scripture, supposedly proving that a litany of disasters are simply signs of the coming Rapture. Chloe actually offers a completely rational, heartfelt counter to the woman’s dogmatism, and anyone who knows Left Behind knows what that attitude will mean—damnation here below, left to grasp on to suddenly empty clothes of your loved ones.

The Left Behind books and first set of films (which starred Kirk Cameron) were phenomena of a type within the then nascent Christian publishing and filmmaking worlds. The economic boom of this niche market has only burgeoned over the ensuing years, but this “new, improved” (hardly) version of the first film feels like a bloated, unfocused mess most of the time, seemingly made to cash in on the new consumerism informing one segment of the Christian buying public. Cage, looking like a slightly embalmed version of himself, sleepwalks through a role that admittedly calls for him to a tamped down professional, and the sad thing is he's probably the best thing in the film. But that “get ‘er done” mentality saps the film of any real suspense, leaving a bunch of side plots, including the somewhat hilarious arc for Chloe, who has a truly epic series of unfortunate events occur to her, to provide most of the drama.

What’s interesting is how closely Left Behind hews to the disaster film template of decades ago. The first half hour or so introduces a series of rather broadly drawn characters, types that are pretty much instantaneously identifiable as saved (e.g, about to be Raptured) or otherwise (most of the central characters). Then we get the “disaster,” which in this case is the Rapture, followed by a plane on limited fuel without a place to land and a woman trying to make sense out of a world completely in chaos. Luckily Christianity is largely built on the foundation of forgiveness, which means true believers will probably be willing to cut this film some general slack in spite of its looming flaws. Maybe at least some so-called "Easter and Christmas Christians" would be willing to concede this is a “disaster film,” all right, but more in the sense that this film is a disaster.

Left Behind Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Left Behind is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Entertainment One with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.38:1. Shot digitally with the Arri Alexa Plus, the film actually looks best in its opening act, before things have started to go to hell (and/or purgatory) in a handbasket. The opening half hour or so of the film takes place in well lit locations, including the airport as well as outdoors, and in these sequences colors look natural, contrast is strong and there's commendable clarity and sharpness. Once the film gets onto the plane, however, and especially after the Rapture occurs, the film is muddled by a serious case of low light murk, with shadow detail revealing surprisingly little and the overall image just kind of blah looking. It's obvious that most if not all of the cockpit material was filmed in front of a greenscreen and the background (which is frequently just blue light) does little to establish the reality of the situation. CGI and practical effects are also variable, though occasionally fairly effective, as in one great shot of the city under seige post-Rapture (see screenshot 13).

Left Behind Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Some high definition aficionados may joke that one of the signs of the apocalypse is a Blu-ray offering only lossy sound options, and that would be the case with Left Behind, which features Dolby Digital 5.1 mixes in both English and French. There's nothing problematic per se with the Dolby Digital track, for it offers acceptable support for the film's dialogue, effects and score. But the film does rely on some low frequency effects that certainly would have benefitted from a lossless format. Whoever made the decision to "go lossy" had better do some serious penance before the Rapture due date.

Left Behind Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Theatrical Trailer (1080p; 1:38)


• Behind the Scenes Featurette (1080i; 19:31) is pretty standard EPK fare, with some decent enough interviews.


• Behind the Scenes Slideshow (1080i; 3:14)


• Cast & Crew Interviews (1080p; 31:24) include:

  Nicolas Cage

  Chad Michael Murray

  Cassi Thomson

  Nicky Whelan

  Jordin Sparks

  Alec Rayme

  Paul LaLonde

  Vic Armstrong

• Author's Reflections include:

  Tim LaHaye (1080p; 2:18)

  Jerry B. Jenkins (1080p; 2:15)

Note: As can be seen from screenshot 20, the Main Menu offers both a Special Features and a Bonus Features option. The above supplements are found under Special Features. Bonus Features contains a set of trailers for other products.

Left Behind Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

There will no doubt be some who insist I'm "obviously not a believer, and so shouldn't review Left Behind." But religious belief (and/or lack of it) has nothing to do with faulting this film's not quite ready for prime time performances, hackneyed script, often laughable effects and just overall haphazard feel. "True believers" may get enough out of this, despite its manifest ridiculousness (and even that's a debatable proposition), but for the vast majority of the viewing public, my hunch is it's going to be this film that gets left behind.