Is that… is that Nicolas Cage? Why yes, it most certainly is. This week, we’re reviewing the remake of Left Behind (2014), dir. Vic Armstrong, a story about an event on earth where a whole bunch of people just disappear all of a sudden. It’s sci-fi, but with a whole bunch of biblical elements and some incredibly dramatic escapades on a plane – are you ready? Here we go!
Lauren’s verdict:
If you’re on board for seeing an over-the-top, low budget film starring Nic Cage as a debonair airplane pilot who saves a plane full of innocent civilians from plummeting to certain death – Congratulations, Left Behind is the film for you! Whats that? The only thing that could possibly make it better would be strong Biblical themes and preachy subtext? SWEET BABY JESUS, you’re in for a treat!
In Left Behind millions of people suddenly disappear from the Earth during the prophesised Rapture. Chloe (Cassi Thomson), a hopeful college student, home for a visit with her emotionally distant family, searches feverishly for her little brother and her born-again Christian mother (Lea Thompson) who have inexplicably vanished. While her father Ray (Nic Cage) pilots a commercial plane full of panicked people, slowly realising that the world beneath them is descending into chaos.
Whether this film is supposed to be taking itself seriously is… unclear. At one point Chloe is forced to navigate an escalating frenzy of panicking people, literally dodging a runaway car, a runaway plane and a runaway school bus in quick succession. The people in her neighbourhood instantly descend into mania, and begin looting stores and setting things on fire almost immediately. Which is objectively hilarious.
The most baffling thing in this movie, however, is Cage’s acting. Nic Cage’s Ray is commanding, calm and incredibly capable. Which – I’ve just now decided – kicks off my new favourite genre of film – movies where Nic Cage is the level-headed one and the rest of the world is batshit crazy.
Left Behind is supposed to be a story about a father and daughter coming to terms with their bad decisions and indifference to their loving Christian God, but ends up being an overly dramatic and campy action movie with a hopelessly scattered message.
In saying that though, I want to take this time to give credit to my favourite parts:
- The abysmal CGI
- The insistence that when people are Raptured they disappear but leave their clothes behind (which I assume means Heaven is full of naked people??)
- At one point an outspoken plane passenger loudly interjects “Do you want to know what I think?” and another guy just flatly says “No.”
- Chad Michael Murray is in this movie too and I kinda forgot about him until this very moment
If you can handle a bit of bad acting, this movie is fun, but if you want a good film with Nic Cage on a plane don’t waste your time and just watch Con Air again.
1.5 out of 5 turbulent plane flights ✈️
Jeremy’s verdict:
“Either I’m going crazy, or the entire world is insane,” says Ray Steele, a pilot and the protagonist of Left Behind. Played by Nicolas Cage, it pains me to say that Ray’s dialogue in this post-apocalyptic rapture film feels written for the eccentric cultural icon Cage has become – and as a result, it also feels perfect for him.
At another point in the film, Hattie (Nicky Whelan), a flight attendant who has a romantic interest in Ray:
“Ray, I’m scared. Aren’t you?”
“I will be. As soon as I have time.”
It’s both awful and great. It somehow works, somehow makes sense, and somehow – just somehow – Cage does a genuinely good job with it. Maybe it’s the fact that this review is being written three weeks after watching the film, but Cage is really enjoyable to watch as the rapture disappears people and everyone descends into a panicked madness.
Left Behind is not going to be considered high art. Its soundtrack is schmaltzy at times, its CGI is not brilliant, and its representation of the biblical rapture emphasises the looting of malls, and the crashing of various vehicles (school buses, light aircraft), more than is believable. Also the characters stuck in-fighting on the plane mid-rapture are hilarious. But it somehow leans into this weird, b-grade niche of over-dramatic flair and ambition that makes some of its weaker points charming. As a viewer, there were many points I would normally tune out from, and for some reason I just didn’t.
I’m not sure that makes it ‘good’. But it’s also not ‘bad’ either. It’s as if Cage’s presence removes Left Behind from the spectrum we’d normally criticise films on, transcending it to another plane (sorry) of strange cultural artefacts that have an allure they really shouldn’t. I don’t really know what to make of Left Behind, except to say that I enjoyed it more than I thought it would – and maybe you will too?
2.5 out of 5 turbulent plane flights ✈️
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