Left Behind (2000)

User Rating:

4.6/10   

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:

The airport scenes are filmed in a covered walkway called the Skywalk in downtown Toronto. The Skywalk has an access connection to Union Station and stops about 200 feet East of the CN Tower. Rogers Centre (Skydome) is West of the tower

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: Whoever this antichrist guy is, he's gonna have one big war on his hands if he tries to rebuild this temple anytime soon.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Passion: Films, Faith & Fury (2006) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Come Quickly Lord

SPOON FEEDING the audience

I am a Christian... and I feel this movie is awful.

Nobody but hard-core, Bible-belt Christians are going to like this movie. The message is just too in your face. If you want to touch a wider audience, you have to be way more subtle. You can't have the dad waving the bible around and carrying it with him in EVERY scene. RIDICULOUS!

Poor direction. The reveal of people missing should have been terrifying, but it was laughable. They leave their clothes on the ground? It reminded me of old Ed Wood movies: "Oh my God! People are missing!" That scene in the plane is just stupid. Think about it: if you found your relative's clothes next to you, you wouldn't just scream "oh my god. they disappeared! they're missing!" and start crying and yelling. You would first be in denial... you just wouldn't jump to that conclusion. Watch Jodie Foster in FLIGHTPLAN. My favorite shot is the dog sitting out on the lawn with a pile of clothes and boots sitting next to him. I about fell off the couch I was laughing so hard.

The music was so bad and so distracting. It was as if the composer was in his own world scoring his own movies. "here's my chance to do a thriller", "here's my chance to do action!" STOP TELLING ME HOW TO FEEL JAMES COVELL! A good score supports what's happening on the screen... this movie needed more of an UNDER score, but instead it was as much in your face as the message was.

The writing was bland. So was Captain Christian Kirk Cameron. Chelsea was the worse: "you don't understand! People are missing!". Brad Johnson was laughable. The two stand out performances came from the Anti-Christ and the older guy (sorry, can't remember their names) In watching the "making of" (to answer my question of "what were they thinking???"), the producers and filmmakers and actors are just deluding themselves... saying "we're gonna reach wide audiences" and "brad Johnson is amazing" and "this is just like a Hollywood movie". I came to the conclusion that they just don't know what the "heck" they are doing.

I commend the effort. Getting the message to a wide audience is a fantastic idea. Film is the best medium possible to do that. Look at movies like WIDE AWAKE, SIGNS, CONTACT, PASSION OF Christ, even O'BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU? The bottom line is that the film needed to be made by people who have talent and vision. Unfortunately, it was not.