Left Behind ~ The Movie

Some time ago, I watched Kirk Cameron's version of Tim LaHaye & Jerry B Jenkins book Left Behind.  I was very impressed with the previous version.  I did a post for the 3 part series.  You can LINK here to that post.

I had said previously that I couldn't wait until I could watch this movie, to see if they did a better job.
Let me begin by saying, this was an exciting movie...

However, overall it sucked.

Let's go back and remember that LaHaye was not at all satisfied with Cameron's version of Left Behind, and sued in order to get the rights back to the story line.  From what I could gather LaHaye was not satisfied with how Hollywood did the film the first time.  The box office draw was not where LaHaye wanted it.  And he felt the message needed to be redone for better effectiveness.

So, recast the movie, get BIG name stars...  Nicholas Cage is really hot right now, or he was at the time of this production.  And will draw in more people.

Now I must say, I agree that the message needs to go out.  I agree that if we are in the end times right now, that we need to get the word out to as many people as we can.

This movie, missed the mark.

At first, we are introduced to the mom.  She is portrayed as a religious nut.  All we see of her is a bit conversation with her daughter, where she really doesn't say what's on her mind.  There is a Bible in the scene.

Remy disappears, while his sister is giving him a hug.  He is in her arms, and he pops away, his clothes still in her hands.  You know, she has got to KNOW what happened.  After all, mom has talked about it for months.  YET, she goes to the car looking for her brother, she goes to the hospital looking for him, she goes home to look for him.  Good Grief.  This was stupid.  (And not the way it happened in the book).

Then Chloe goes home, and finds her moms jewelry in the shower with the shower running.  Maybe she understands now.

She goes to the church, and yells at the pastor, cause he didn't believe what he preached.

Guys that is about the extent of the message that is portrayed in this film. The rest of the film, is an airplane in crisis, low on fuel, trying to land.

There is a little bit on the plane, where Ray Steele finds his missing co-pilot's watch that has John 3:16 printed on it, and a missing stewardess has "Bible Study" in her calendar for Thursday.  This doesn't really tell us a lot.  One of the passengers, on a drug induced high actually explains it all in about 30 seconds.  Then it's right back to the plane in crisis.

I was not happy with this version of the book.  I think Cameron's version was much better.  It was more to the point, and had more of the message that is the intent of the media.

I'm sure this movie would play great for the male audiences but as a mode to get the message out to the world, it failed.

I wonder now if LaHaye will sue yet again?

I did read where the sequel to this Left Behind is in production now, and slated for Fall 2016 release, "because the message is too important to sit on".  I truly hope part two focuses a little more on the message, "Jesus is coming".

No-one knows the day or the hour, it could be tomorrow.  Know Jesus, so you're not left behind.