Left Behind

I have to confess that I bought this movie a bit on a whim and my purchase decision was mostly based on the fact that Nicolas Cage was in it. That was a mistake! I should have done a wee bit more research before wasting my money. I did not really have any hopes that it would be a great movie but I at least hoped that it would be a somewhat decent disaster / apocalypse movie. Sadly, it is nothing of the kind. This time I have to side with the people trashing this movie, even the so called “critics” at Rotten Tomatoes. This is a bad movie. It could have been a half decent movie. The basic idea is perhaps not super original but it could have been made to work. However, it is simply loaded with religious bullshit. Once you filter out said bullshit, which is bloody difficult since you are more or less force fed it during most of the movie, there is really nothing left. The behavior of people are bizarre to say the least. The dialogue is mostly nonsensical. The movies attempt at putting different and original characters, including an obnoxious dwarf, on the plane is feeble. The action and special effects are generally lousy and the attempts to put some thrill and drama into the landing of the plane is laughable. Come on, you see a plane coming, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that it has no pilot and is flying in a straight line. You are over the Atlantic, a minor course change would have done the job and there was plenty of time. But nooo, the idiot script writer had Cage fly in a straight line like a chicken race until it was too late. And do not get me started on the stupidity of having someone driving down a stretch of highway in a pickup truck knocking over plastic cones to “clear it for landing”. The only reason this movie gets any stars at all is because I do like Nicolas Cage even in a lousy movie like this.

**Do yourself a favor and watch the other one** Easily the worst copycat of this story. The script holds more atheism than Bible and doesn't even attempt to discuss God in any meaningful way. Also, the characters - just about all of them - react unrealistically and wander about aimlessly in contrived "panic". Not a good film.