FirstWitch
A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.
Adeel Hail
Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.
Loui Blair
It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.
FrauleinElsa
Ugh, don't leave him behind with us, take Kirk Cameron with you!
Eric Stevenson
"Left Behind" was a popular series of books that I actually managed to read in comic book form at first at least. Yeah, they certainly don't hold up looking back. Having seen the awful Nicolas Cage version, this is much better, but it's still a bad movie. That is how below the bar things have been set for my entertainment. I was actually giving credit to Kirk Cameron for making a better movie. Then that same year, he made "Saving Christmas" which was ranked as the worst movie of all time on the IMDb. Hey, at least he isn't as bad here. The first ten minutes of this story seem pointless and feature horrible CGI.It's weird, because it looks like the sequels are actually minor improvements. I recall watching Cameron on "Growing Pains" where he actually seemed decent. He seems to be getting worse all the time. I guess there wasn't anything that offensive in this movie. It's just quite stupid. The movie ends with the villain shooting two people and then brainwashing everyone into thinking they did it to themselves. Shouldn't there be security cameras or something around? Why was Buck (Kirk Cameron) unaffected? We see a scene where a priest actually prerecords a message saying that he knew this would all happen. Yeah, I guess he just didn't want to warn anyone about it. I've heard of religious people who mock this series too. Yes, I am religious (Christian) and this is a poorly done film so stick with the classic Jesus movies. *1/2
Scott Amundsen
I've been a Christian for nearly fifty years, and as I do not happen to believe in the pre-tribulation Rapture, approaching this movie as a work of fiction seemed wise. And as it turned out, I enjoyed it more than I thought I would.As storytelling goes, it isn't half bad, and the acting is serviceable and even touches the heart or chills the bones at times. By now even those who have never seen it (and wouldn't if you paid them) probably know the basic plot: the Rapture, which is basically the sudden disappearance from the face of the earth of everyone who was "right with God" (meaning of course the sort of Christian who reads the Bible as if it were a "Dick and Jane" reading primer), leaving behind friends and loved ones to muddle about in confusion until they figure it out for themselves.The principle players are reporter Buck Williams (Kirk Cameron), airline pilot Rayford Steele (Brad Johnson), Steele's daughter Chloe (Janaya Stephens), and the Reverend Bruce Barnes (Clarence Gilyard), the obligatory minister who finds himself "left behind" and thus forced to face up to his inadequacies as a man of God.There's nothing inspired in the casting; the characters are stock and the actors inhabit them surprisingly well, Johnson especially (his grief when he comes home and discovers that his wife and son are among those taken is one of the more genuine moments in the whole picture).Since this is taken from the novel by Tim LaHaye, a proponent of the pre-tribulation Rapture, we all know what comes next: the tribulation and the rise of the Antichrist. It's all muddled up with a man in Israel attempting to combat world hunger and the move towards a single world currency (which is never explained; Christians who follow this theology have this particular theory about money but how it ties in to the return of Christ they can never really satisfactorily say). In addition, the nations of the world are declaring peace, which is a good thing, right? Not on your life. It takes a while to find it out but what this world peace really means is that there is no God so no need for any of the religions of the world.The United Nations takes a real beating in this movie; it is painfully obvious that the people who wrote this thing suffer from a xenophobia so deeply ingrained that anyone who does not look, speak, walk, or think as they do is at the very least suspicious and probably headed for the lake of fire.As for the Antichrist, this is where the movie slips, and slips badly. He arrives in the form of Nicolae Carpathia (Gordon Currie), a rather blank-faced man with a pronounced Russian accent. (Well of COURSE it would be Russian; remember those damn Commies??) The scenes in which Currie appears are the silliest ones in the film and frankly he comes across as comic relief most of the time.The film doesn't really end; the credits just roll. Two more films followed this one and they're all fun to watch if you do not take them too seriously.Haven't seen the remake yet (Good God, Nicolas Cage must have been desperate for money), but I'll review it when I do.
Arthur Vandelay
This comedy tries to have all the gravitas of the 1978 film Attack of the Killer Tomatoes! to offset the insane premise the script offers up, but fails to deliver. This is due to the weak script, which both fails in dialog and plot, as well as acting that would put community theatre to shame.In a movie like this you need Shatner-esque levels of scenery chewing overacting in a lead, something that a washed up 1980s sitcom star cannot deliver.If the writing and acting isn't bad enough the cinematography and editing are amateur at best. Was this shot and edited by interns working for college credit and meals? It seems like it.All of that coupled with an absurdest script, which apparently is based on two best selling fiction books, makes this train wreck of a film not even worth the camp value for comedy.Apparently this is supposed to be some sort of cult film, but it seems more like a film produced by a cult.If you want to watch an absurd comedy watch the cult movie they were apparently trying to shoot for - Attack of the Killer Tomatoes!
