Left Behind: Rise of the Antichrist Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		3.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		2.5

Left Behind: Rise of the Antichrist Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman March 28, 2023

Hollywood has recently become fascinated with disappearances and mass vanishings; shows like The 4400, Lost, and The Leftovers have explored the topic of missing people, vanished people, in some form or fashion, on various scales, and to quality narrative effect and entertainment value. In Left Behind: Rise of the Antichrist, more mass vanishings occur, but they occur as part of biblical prophecy fulfillment, ushering in the last days, the tribulation, and the antichrist, all topics which the film, as well as the novel series on which it is based (written by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins) and its cinematic predecessors (films starring Kirk Cameron and Nic Cage), explores. This film, directed by and starring God's Not Dead's Kevin Sorbo, explores these biblical prophesies with some penchant for flair but not much in the way of cinematic excellence. It's a lower budget film with limited ability to present the worldwide scope the story demands, attempting to hide its miniature scale to rather unimpressive effect. Still, the film valiantly tries to put together an entertaining story with a plainly obvious voice for evangelism, straining to reach those whose ears and hearts are closed to scripture and the prophecy therein.

Six months after millions of people disappeared in the Rapture, the world is just beginning to recover. So when a so-called expert claims that a second wave of vanishings is imminent, news anchor Cameron Buck (Greg Parrow) sets out to disprove her theory. On a parallel journey, Ray (Kevin Sorbo) tries to convince his daughter that his wife's disappearance was, in fact, the rapture. In a world where Biblical truth is censored and vilified, he's desperate for answers. As their paths begin to converge, Buck soon realized that the story is much bigger than he could have imagined. They are indeed living in the end times prophesied in the Bible and facing the rise to power of the evilest and most dangerous human being in history...The Antichrist.

One of the film's main story threads is the effort to cover up the truth of what has happened. The media dubs the event "The Vanishing." It is billed by the powers-that-be as something random, unexplainable, rather than biblical, and it is used to rush a nefarious agenda. That half of the story largely follows Buck, a talk show host who begins to dig into the event, especially when a second "vanishing" supposedly occurs as part of a scheme to further hide the truth. His investigation will invariably, of course, lead him towards the Bible. On the other side of the film is Sorbo's character Rayford Steele who has a more personal connection to the disappearance. He, too, finds himself drawn towards the Word of God for explanation rather than the word of man for explanation. These two storylines do manage to interconnect by the end as both characters find themselves in position to both find Jesus and find answers in the larger schemes at play in the world around them.

Those larger schemes include the transition to a one-world government and a one-world currency, the former to be headed by the antichrist, Nicolae Carpathia (Bailey Chase), and the latter by Jonathan Stonagal (Neal McDonough). The film does a fair job of integrating these companion biblical prophesies into the film's overreaching narrative, but the picture's limited scope and budget prevent it from feeling more fully authentic in its implementation. It's not that the content is not believable, it's that the scope is so small that when various press conferences take place, with minimal and lackluster set dressing, with small crowds, and overall, a tiny scale, it's difficult to buy the illusion that these are world-changing events taking place, feeling more like a high school production instead.

Left Behind: Rise of the Antichrist Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Left Behind: Rise of the Antichrist was shot digitally and has something of a straightforward appearance about it. The image is certainly not one to excite the visual senses, offering a stable, but not particularly robust, 1080p transfer. The picture offers adequately sharp detail, presenting faces and clothes with satisfactory textural clarity and accuracy, but never achieving a level of excellence that pushes the format towards its limits. This is more due to the source than it is the Blu-ray transfer, which appears to capture the photographed elements within technical boundaries. Colors are likewise nothing to write home about. The palette is fairly drab, lacking any sort of punch, pop, dazzle, or delight, but saturation is fair and contrast and temperature are not neutral but are at least stable. Black levels are actually very good (look at a TV set interview at the 31-minute mark). The image does deal with some heavy, at times, source noise. Additionally, some obvious compression artifacts come into play (look at the 1:15:41 mark for one of the more obvious and egregious examples) while banding may be seen at the 1:38:46 mark. both share the screen at the 1:4:18 mark. These are not debilitating issues, but they appear with enough frequency and intensity to distract.

Left Behind: Rise of the Antichrist Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Much like the video, the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack is more than adequate but less than spectacular. The presentation offers good, solid engagement around the stage, and while surround activity is not frenzied, neither is it muted; this is a fairly well balanced, though mostly front heavy, experience. The track offers little more than dialogue, with some musical engagement and a few beefier effects (an exploding car, a few gunshots) present some extracurricular oomph and depth, certainly not to major Hollywood production level but certainly doing enough to support the elements in question. The subwoofer never thumps, but neither is bass nonexistent. That aforementioned dialogue is clear and center positioned. The track satisfies the needs of the original sound design, which is very straightforward, so in that way it is very good; listeners simply need not expect a significant audio sensory experience here.

Left Behind: Rise of the Antichrist Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This Blu-ray release of Left Behind: Rise of the Antichrist includes a few featurettes. No DVD or digital copies are included with purchase. This release does not ship with a slipcover.

• Altar Call (1080i, 10:00): Director/Actor Kevin Sorbo shares the gospel message and the importance of biblical prophecy pointing to Jesus' return and the rapture. Following, Mike Huckabee reinforces the message.
• Behind the Action (1080p, 7:47): Making the car explosion shot, a car chase also involving an airplane, and a scene with gunplay.
• Outtakes (1080p, 2:10): Humorous moments from the shoot.
• Sam and Kevin (1080p, 2:28): Sorbo discusses his relationship with his wife, Sam.
• The Legacy (1080p, 3:00): Sorbo discuses the "Left Behind" book series on which the film is based, previous film editions, and how the story in this film reflects today's sociopolitical landscape.

Left Behind: Rise of the Antichrist Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

There could be -- should be -- a great movie, or a great series of movies, centered on the biblical rapture, but this is not it. There's a solid foundation in place, and that foundation is the core idea, but the stories and characters built around it feel uninspired, despite the base being the inspired Word of God. The film is watchable, and it has a few good moments, but as dramatic entertainment it fails, and as a roundabout sermon on the rapture it's simply adequate. 101 Films brings the picture to Blu-ray with healthy, if not forgettable, video and audio output. The supplements are likewise healthy if not forgettable. Rent it.