Left Behind (2000)

Director:

Vic Sarin

Writers:

Alan B. McElroy (writer) and
Paul Lalonde (writer) ...

Release Date:

4 September 2001 (Spain)

Genre:

Drama | Fantasy | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

The Future Is Clear.

Plot:

Rayford Steele is an airline pilot whose relationship with his wife has gone sour;he ponders having an affair with an attractive flight attendant...

Plot Keywords:

Pilot | Flight Attendant | Disappearance | Bible Prophecy | Bible

Awards:

3 nominations

Cast

Kirk Cameron	...	Buck Williams
Brad Johnson	...	Rayford Steele
Janaya Stephens	...	Chloe Steele
Clarence Gilyard Jr.	...	Bruce Barnes (as Clarence Gilyard)
Colin Fox	...	Chaim Rosenzweig
Gordon Currie	...	Nicolae Carpathia
Chelsea Noble	...	Hattie Durham
Daniel Pilon	...	Jonathan Stonegal
Tony De Santis	...	Joshua Cothran
Jack Langedijk	...	Dirk Burton
Krista Bridges	...	Ivy Gold
Thomas Hauff	...	Steve Plank
Neil Crone	...	Ken Ritz
Sten Eirik	...	Flattop / Carl
Raven Dauda	...	Gloria

Also Known As:

Left Behind: The Movie (USA) (video title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for violence.

Runtime:

USA:96 min

Country:

Canada

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Finland:K-11 | Singapore:PG | USA:PG-13 (appeal) | USA:R (orginal rating) | USA:PG-13

Filming Locations:

Chicago, Illinois, USA

Company:

Cloud Ten Pictures

Trivia:

According to the "Making of..." documentary, Chelsea Noble (Hattie), who is married to Kirk Cameron (Buck), was reading the book in bed. Kirk was asleep, but Chelsea was so excited about the idea of turning this into a movie, she started slapping Kirk on the leg to wake him up, and said, "I want to play the role of Hattie!" Kirk and Chelsea then started farming out the idea to find out who might produce the film.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Carpathia shoots Stonegal and Cothran, he uses a semiautomatic pistol, which would normally automatically eject the cartridge casing upon discharge, in order to chamber the next round. This does not occur on either of the two discharges shown. In movies, they frequently use "Non-guns" to fire blanks, which do not (normally) eject the cartridge casings upon discharge.

Quotes:

Buck Williams: It's true. I can't believe it, it's true!

Movie Connections:

References The Omen (1976)

Soundtrack:

After All (Rayford's Song)

Fire the screenplay writers

I'm a Christian who generally believes in the theology taught in Left Behind. That being said, I think Left Behind is one of the worst films I've seen in some time.

To have a good movie, you need to have a well-written screenplay. Left Behind fell woefully short on this. For one thing, it radically deviates from the book. Sometimes this is done to condense a 400-page novel down to a two-hour film, but in this film I saw changes that made no sense whatsoever.

Another thing, there is zero character development. When characters in the story get saved (I won't say who), the book makes it clear that it's a long, soul-searching process. In the film it's quick and artificial. The book is written decently enough where people like Rayford Steele, Buck Williams and Hattie Durham seem real, but in the movie scenarios are consistently given the quick treatment without anything substantial. In another scene where one character gets angry about being left behind (again, I won't say who), it seems artificial.

I realize as a Christian it's unedifying for me to say I disliked this film, but I can't in a good conscience recommend a film that I feel was horribly done. Perhaps it would've been better to make the first book into 2-3 films. Either way, Christians need to realize that to be taken seriously as filmmakers, we need to start by putting together a film in a quality way. I realize a lot of effort probably went into Left Behind, but that's the way I see it.