Left Behind 2014 : Right In Front [Mike’s Review]
Today on Cage Club we don’t get Raptured in Left Behind. What can you say about Left Behind? I’d rather not say anything but here it goes. This is a remake based on a 2000 movie which was based off a series of popular novels. They are about the Rapture, that time when God will save every devout Christian on Earth by (killing) taking them directly to Heaven, while the sinners are left to rot in Hell on Earth. During this time all sorts of crazy things can happen as Evil runs rampant, but lucky for those Left Behind, Cage is there to help them in their time of need cause even when God abandons you, Cage doesn’t.
Cage plays a pilot and it’s his birthday, plus he’s cheating on his wife. His daughter comes home from school to be there for him but he decides to fly to London to see U2 with his wanna be girl friend who is a flight attendant. His wife is a devout Christian who seems nice enough but her daughter is real nasty about her liking God so much. While Cage is flying the plane, the Rapture happens. All the terrible people left on board can’t figure out whats going on for a while, but Cage puts it together after seeing some signs left by the other flight attendant and his co-pilot. Cage deduces that it’s the Rapture and turns the plane around back to New York. He can’t reach his daughter on the phone because there is no service. She is on the ground in the middle of the chaos in the streets. She can’t take it anymore and decides to jump from the top of a bridge just when she gets cell reception and a call from Cage telling her not to jump but to help him land the plane, which she does by setting a parking lot on fire at the abandoned mall. Even though Cage landed the plane of sinners safe back home, its all bad news because the end of days is just beginning.
This movie is incredibly preachy and not subtle at all in it’s agenda. It’s irresponsible propaganda filmmaking that makes everyone involved, on all sides, seem like a bad person. I could have watched a movie about the Rapture if it wasn’t always talking down to me, or making it’s own type of sense based off of whatever logic the screenwriters are following, based off these books. The series is 0 for 2 when it comes to adapting this material and I think that’s a safe bet in assuming the source is garbage as well. There are good versions of this story out there, and the best ones forces more on character than the actual event that occurred. This movie is all about screaming it’s message through the Rapture story, so much that it gets muddled and confusing as to what motivations are through out the movie. I don’t have anything against religion or the idea of this story and I think it can and has been done well, but this version is not good. This isn’t the only movie that pushes an agenda, but it’s doing so in a nasty and rude manner that questions the intent of the message(s). I finally wonder if this wants just made by some random Church congregation by using the donation money to hire Nic Cage to make this seem legit or on the level ?
In the original movie which this is “based” on, it gets super strange with a magical formula that can grow crops anywhere, an attack in the middle east prompting WW3 (?) and the actual Antichrist shows up in the end to tie it all together. None of this is in the Cage version. The Cage version takes place almost entirely on an airplane before, during and after the Rapture. There is some stuff on the ground with Cage’s movie daughter dodging death from all over the place as the streets run amok and you get a little sense of the bigger picture going on off the flight, but the plane is where it’s at cause that is where Cage is.
That will do it for Left Behind. The least said about this one the better. It’s a hard pass and in the running for worst movie in the entire Cage Club. Coming up next we have Dying of the Light, directed by the writer of Bringing Out The Dead, Paul Schrader. I have no idea what this is about, but Cage has grey hair on the DVD cover and that has me intrigued. Whatever it is, it won’t be worse than Left Behind, that’s for sure.
Mike
@the_mikestir
