I must admit I had no clue going in that this film would be this bad! But what did you expect? Left Behind is a 2014 Christian film about the apocalyptic rapture film directed by Vic Armstrong and written by Paul LaLonde and John Patus. The film is based on the novel of the same name written by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins and stars Nicolas Cage, Chad Michael Murray, Cassi Thomson, Nicky Whelan, and Jordin Sparks. Yes, Cage has fallen to act in such drivel.
Ok, so what is this movie about? It’s about the rapture – where Yahweh is supposed to instantly beam or take all his believers into heaven and leave all the rest behind – that is believed to happen just before the end of days. The events of the film focus on one city (supposed to be NYC) & her people are shown and one plane and it’s crew plus passengers. Chloe is home from college to celebrate her pilot father’s birthday but is upset to learn that he is scheduled to be flying from New York to London. Things have been rough at home ever since Chloe’s mom Irene became a devout Christian, spouting off Bible quotes and heavy on the prayers. Her dad Rayford is flirting heavily with the pretty blonde stewardess Hattie who is on the same plane, when Chloe sees him. Hattie accidentally finds out that Rayford has plans to spend his London trip with Hattie and she goes up upset.
At home after brushing off Irene’s religious concerns & preachings Chloe goes to the mall with her young brother and it is there that the shit hits the fan! Her brother disappears from her arms, as do several other people at the mall. Panic ensues and you see looting, shoving, and absolute mayhem. A driverless car crashes through the window and when Chloe is outside a small planet crashes into her car. She run to the hospital (for what?) and finds all the babies have disappeared from their cribs. She also sees television reports of chaos on the streets and of people disappearing. Meanwhile on the plane a bunch of people including the co-pilot and a stewardess have also disappeared, leaving their clothing & personal belongings behind, causing panic among the remaining passengers. A mother cries out about her young daughter missing cries while a drug addict woman freaks out as she knows what is happening. With the help of Cameron, who is on the same flight, Rayford tries his best to calm things down. An antagonistic man sees a muslim praying and has suspicions on him. Rayford has difficulty getting radio or cell phone contact with anyone on the ground, until he is finally informed that people have disappeared everywhere and the world is in uproar. Soon a pilotless jet approaches directly into Rayford’s flight path. He narrowly avoids a midair collision but the jet damages Rayford’s fuel line. He decides his only option is to return to New York and hope his fuel holds out.
Chloe meanwhile goes home and finds the shower still on and her mom’s jewellery on the shower floor and goes to their church and finds it empty with the exception of their family pastor. He explains that god has taken all his believers to heaven while those that remain must face the end of days. When Chloe asks her how come he wasn’t taken, the pastor says that he never truly believed in what he preached as he had doubts. Back on the plane, Rayford confesses to Hattie that he is married and has 2 children and she is upset as she didn’t know that he was married. Chloe feels that everything is hopeless and climbs on top of a bridge to jump to her death but at that precise moment – it’s a fucking miracle – her phone rings! Hallelujah! It’s Cameron who along with Rayford has been trying to contact her several times and it is at this precise moment that the connection gets through! Rayford apologizes to his daughter saying that it is all his fault for the rift between her mom and him. He loves her and “I love you daddy” and but bitch this plane has no runway to land. So Chloe finds an abandoned Ford truck and uses it to clear away the equipment from a bridge under construction in order to create a makeshift runway. And she uses a Compass app and tells Rayford the coordinates of the landing site.
Using all his skills Rayford is able to make the emergency landing, saving everyone on board. As Chloe is reunited with Rayford and Cameron, they look onto a city or make that world in chaos and fire and she says this is just the beginning! What a lousy film! Shit script, horrendous acting and nonsensical cliched dialogues. Even most devout Christians would be ashamed of this drivel and they were as the rantings in critical websites show. But I laughed a lot! 3 outta 10!