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‘Left Behind’ Is Not a Christian Movie, Says Christianity Today

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Satan may not be a fan of the new “Left Behind,” and it turns out Christianity Today isn’t, either. In a scathing review , critic Jackson Cuidon says that the movie, whose marketing is heavily targeted towards evangelic Christians, “is not a Christian Movie, whatever “Christian Movie”could even possibly mean.” It gets a half-star rating only, he explains, because the publication’s website won’t allow him to give it none.

My Sunday School lessons are long forgotten and I haven’t cracked a Bible since Comparative Religion class, but “Left Behind” — the new version with Nicolas Cage, not the earlier trilogy with Kirk Cameron — doesn’t emphasize what I understand as Christian values. The people who aren’t called to Jesus aren’t, as a whole, painted as immoral, and certainly not evil; some of them are even devout believers, albeit in different versions of God. (Sorry you picked the wrong horse, barely developed Muslim guy.) The only thing that distinguishes them is their overt symbols of piety — the white leatherbound Bible atop which Lea Thompson’s cheery mom tosses her gardening gloves; the watch engraved with “John 3:16” left behind by Cage’s Raptured co-pilot — or, in some cases, their age: Earlier generations of Christians believed that unbaptized infants could hope for Purgatory at best, but in the “Left Behind” series, eight-year-olds and younger get in, no questions asked.

As Cuidon puts it:

Most Christians within the world of the movie — whether the street-preacher lady at the airport or Rayford Steele’s wife — are portrayed as insistent, crazy, delusional, or at the very least just really annoying. Steele’s wife’s conversion to Christianity is shown to have pushed her and her husband apart; we see that she’s decorated her house with crosses, throw-pillows that say “Pray” across the front, and encouraging posters.

That is the deepest conception of Christianity that this movie has: posters, pillows, and crucifixes.

If the “Left Behind”  books were just pulp novels injected with Christianity, then the “ Left Behind”  movie is just a disaster flick injected with the slightest, most infinitesimal amount of Christianity possible. This is, in one way, good — no one needs to be upset, or get angry, or be offended, or question their beliefs, or the beliefs of those around them, or anything, because the film takes no stance on anything. The film is so inept, confused, and involuted that there’s no danger of even accidentally cobbling together something that could necessitate a defense of Christianity.

In other words, this is just an action movie — and a pretty terrible one at that — with a little God dressing on the side. The climax involves not a spiritual reckoning, but an attempt to land a plane that has run out of fuel, a situation drawn more from “ Save the Cat! ” than the book of Revelations.

Even if it were ideologically coherent, “Left Behind” would still be an almost unbelievably bad movie — and a hypocritical one as well, unless there’s a scriptural passage advising you never to miss a chance to peek down your heroine’s shirt. That it can’t even get its sole reason for being right speaks volumes about how divorced the pop-cultural version of “Christianity” has become from the religion itself.

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‘Left Behind: Rise of the Antichrist’ Review: Kevin Sorbo Steps Into Nicolas Cage’s Shoes for Sequel, After Rapture of Previous Movie’s Entire Cast

The latest installment in the rapture franchise provides efficient filmmaking at times, but doesn't offer much movie rapture on the way to an altar-call epilogue.

By Chris Willman

Chris Willman

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If you see just one thriller this year in which a climactic car chase is followed by the director-star breaking character to deliver a five-minute sermon straight into the camera — followed by three more minutes of Mike Huckabee leading viewers in prayer to accept Jesus into their hearts, before the end credits roll — then make it “ Left Behind : Rise of the Antichrist,” the latest in a series of apocalyptic films based on the bestselling Christian book series.

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In this sequel, we’re told the world is quickly going to hell, following the disappearance of all the world’s true Christians, although there’s not much filmic evidence of that beyond the sight of trash bags adrift in the streets on the rare occasions the Canadian shoot ventures outdoors. The chaos is established via CNN-style newscasts conducted by the film’s other leading man, chiseled, cocky TV anchor Cameron “Buck” Williams (Greg Perrow), who, having been established as the one principled newsman alive, starts looking into the nefarious forces trying to seduce and subject the United Nations and entire globe.

In real life, Sorbo is a polarizing enough personality that there could be a few non-evangelicals sneaking into showings for the purpose of a hate-watching. (The actor is so dedicated to right-wing trolling that, on release weekend, he made yet another sneering joke about the hammer attack on Paul Pelosi.) But anyone showing up in search of unintended laughs, because of his participation or because they have fond memories of snickering at no-budget Christ-sploitation movies like 1972’s “A Thief in the Night” at church camp, may be disappointed to find that “Rise of the Antichrist” rarely rises to pure camp.

It sports attractive lensing, dialogue that occasionally has a little snap to it, and even some decent directing of a few of the performances … including Sorbo’s own. That’s especially true in one nicely low-key, church-set scene where the actor performs alongside his real-life wife (Sam Sorbo, very good), both playing characters who lost their spouses in the rapture. His screen presence here has a naturalistic sweetness that feels at surprising odds with the snarky meanness of Sorbo’s social media persona as God’s Angry Man.

Much of the film is spent implicitly or explicitly painting the government’s and news media’s pandemic-era policies or reporting as hoaxes, establishing public fear or gullibility that provided a nice setup for Satan to really do his thing in end-times to come. (In this universe, there’s not even a Newsmax or an OAN left behind to question, let alone own, the libs.)

When the principal antagonist, in the form of Romanian big-wig Nicolae Carpathia (Bailey Chase), finally shows up for what amounts to only about 10 minutes of screen time, we know he’s the Antichrist because a thrilled television reporter tells viewers he’s getting the most enthusiastic greeting of anyone since Obama. (Boo, hiss.) Actually, Carpathia doesn’t appear to have any of the charisma expected of a guy who’s going to seduce the world; he resembles a much more hard-assed Ron DeSantis, crossed with a Bond villain.   

Reviewed at AMC Santa Anita, Santa Anita, Calif., Jan. 28, 2023. Running time: 128 MIN.

• Production: A 101 Films Int'l, Fathom Events presentation of an Amcomri Entertainment, Stonagal Pictures production. Producers: Paul Lalonde, Michael Walker, Jason Wan Lin, Ed Clydesdale, John Duffy, Kevin Sorbo, James Quattrochi. Executive producers: Paul McGowan, Larry Howard, Andy Lyon, Neal McDonough.
• Crew: Director: Kevin Sorbo. Screenplay: Paul Lalonde, John Patus, Jessica Parker. Editor: Chris Bragg. Music: Tyler Bragg.
• With: Kevin Sorbo, Neal McDonough, Bailey Chase, Corbin Bernsen, Greg Perrow, Sarah FIsher, Sam Sorbo, Charles Sndrew Payn, Stafford Perry.

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3 Things You Should Know about 'Left Behind: Rise of the Antichrist'

• Michael Foust CrosswalkHeadlines Contributor
• Updated Feb 06, 2023

Buck Williams is an experienced television journalist who is searching for the truth in a world full of fear and lies.

Six months ago, millions of people – representatives of every country on the planet – disappeared, instantly, without a trace.

It was, Williams tells viewers, the “single most catastrophic event in all of human history.” Unfortunately, though, there are “still more questions than answers.”

Some people believe aliens caused it. Others posit that the government is behind the disappearances. Still, others believe that a new technology is to blame.

A few people even theorize that the vanishings were predicted thousands of years ago in an ancient book, the Bible

Who is right? And will Williams ever uncover the truth?

The new film Left Behind: Rise of the Antichrist follows the story of Williams and others as they try to survive in a world that is quickly unraveling.

Here are three things you should know about the movie:

Photo courtesy: ©Fathom Events, used with permission

1. It’s a Sequel to the 2014 Film

Rise of the Antichrist is a sequel to the 2014 film Left Behind , both of which are based on the bestselling novels by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins and which imagine what the world will be like in the days surrounding the return of Jesus and the Rapture . The novels and films are based on what theologians call a pretribulation, premillennial interpretation of the Bible’s passages about the Last Days. (Other categories of interpretation include amillennialism and postmillennialism, both of which differ dramatically from the Left Behind plot.)

The first half of the film follows a skeptical Buck Williams as he investigates various theories about The Vanishing – some say the people who disappeared were “different” – and interviews so-called experts on his network. Williams’ view on the End Times changes as he watches a powerful businessman, Jonathan Stonogal, promote a one-world currency and a powerful politician, Romania’s Nicolae Carpathia, promote a one-world government. (One of those characters becomes the Antichrist.) Those events align with what Barnes has said will happen.

Photo courtesy: ©Fathom Events, used with permission.

2. It Features Well-Known Talent

You’ll likely recognize some of the faces in Rise of the Antichrist . Kevin Sorbo ( God’s Not Dead ), the film’s director, portrays Steele, while Neal McDonough ( Captain America, Band of Brothers ) plays Stonogal. The film also stars Emmy-nominee Corbin Bernsen ( Major League series), Sam Sorbo ( Let There Be Light ), Greg Perrow ( Actor for Hire ) and Charles Andrew Payne ( The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants ).

Faith-based films often receive criticism for their poor acting, yet the cast in Rise of the Antichrist  is solid and believable. Perrow, who has the appearance of a TV host, is a perfect fit for the role.

Rise of the Antichrist features a different set of actors and actresses than that of 2014’s Left Behind , which had   Nicholas Cage portraying Steele and Chad Michael Murray playing Williams. (If you’re curious, the new films are a sort of “reboot” of the 2000-era Left Behind films starring Kirk Cameron.)

3. It’s Part-Detective, Part-Apologetics, Part-Sermon

You don’t have to be a fan of the Left Behind series to enjoy Rise of the Antichrist.  That’s because much of the film is similar to a science fiction detective film as it follows a television reporter on his quest for the truth.

It’s one-third a thriller film, one-third an apologetics lesson, and one-third a sermon. It includes the “come to the altar” moments that some moviegoers hate, but it also includes a few lessons in pretribulation, premillennial apologetics, seemingly aimed at critics within the Christian community who say there’s little biblical support for this view of the End Times. (Asked by Chloe Steele to reveal biblical evidence for the Rapture, Barnes turns to 1 Thessalonians 4 and then reads it. Barnes also shows Steele and others his “End Times” charts.)

Rise of the Antichrist  is the best Left Behind movie yet, even if it does include one or two moments of “cheese” that briefly distract from the plot.

Fans of the Left Behind story will enjoy it the most. But for those who never read the books – like me – it includes enough gripping drama to make it interesting.

Rise of the Antichrist is unrated but likely would be PG-13 due to violence (we see people shot and killed at point-blank range) and thematic elements of fright and peril. It also includes brief coarse language (h-ll, 2).

Entertainment rating : 3 out of 5 stars.

Family-friendly rating : 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press ,  Christianity Today ,  The Christian Post , the   Leaf-Chronicle , the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel.

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I grew up evangelical. Terrifying rapture films scarred me for ever

Tales of wars, plagues and starvation left my friends and me fearing we’d be ‘left behind’. They haunt me to this day

A fter millions of people vanish from existence, the world is thrown into violent anarchy, the streets a playground of theft, murder, rape, looting and suicide. Those “left behind” are about to endure seven years of a Cormac McCarthy nightmare: world wars, plagues and mass starvation, the streets littered with the decaying corpses of half the Earth’s population.

It’s a familiar story to anyone raised as an evangelical Christian in the last century, particularly if you grew up in the 90s with a shelf full of Left Behind rapture novels – which have sold 80m copies – or watched the Kirk Cameron film adaptation in 2000, or the Nicolas Cage version in 2014. Or if, like me, you just attended a screening of the most recent installment, Left Behind: Rise of the Antichrist, starring and directed by Kevin Sorbo (best known for his starring role in Hercules: The Legendary Journeys).

Intended to be taken as a literal prophecy of events right around the corner, these stories terrorized me as a child – and haunt my dreams to this day.

I’m working on a memoir about these experiences and have interviewed dozens of people who grew up under this toxic theology. They all have the same story of being unable to reach their parents or siblings (a much more common scenario back in the pre-smartphone age) and suffering panic attacks at the thought of being left behind. It’s a sensation that strikes to the core of your being, the overwhelming sense of abandonment reducing you to a crying infant unable to conjure its mother.

Unlike Hollywood Bible epics, these films are almost always independently financed, star B-list celebrities like Louis Gossett Jr or Margot Kidder, and are chiefly driven by proselytization over entertainment.

Rise of the Antichrist expertly weaves contemporary Christian right boogeymen (big pharma, Silicon Valley, mainstream media, Davos, the Covid vaccine, mental health experts) into an otherwise typical tale. It’s the same narrative every time with rapture films, books and plays: the antichrist uses world war to manipulate the UN into installing him as leader of a global socialist government centered on the Mark of the Beast, a tattooed credit card – often a barcode bracketed by the numbers 666 – on everyone’s right hand or forehead.

Sorbo’s film also skewers the “globalist mainstream media”, which has supposedly conspired to use Covid, and now the rapture, to keep people indoors, distracted and afraid, all in the name of power and profit. It’s a boldly ironic stance for this movie to take, considering it rests in a tradition of using questionable theology to terrify audiences – often children and teens – resulting in lucrative bestsellers and a motivated voting base.

While every generation since Christ has interpreted modern events as evidence of the Book of Revelation prophecy coming to pass, it was a collection of post-hippie evangelicals in California who created the pop-theology of “the rapture” – a word that never actually appears in the Bible.

As part of “the Jesus Movement” – or, pejoratively, “the Jesus Freaks” – sober hippies like Bob Dylan were getting “born again” and preaching on stage about the coming antichrist. Following the collapse of the hedonistic ideals of the 60s, many flower children were being slowly seduced by the religious right, culminating in figures like Johnny Cash and Kris Kristofferson joining Billy Graham’s Explo ’72 festival, which Time magazine called “the Jesus Woodstock”.

The literary accompaniment for this was Hal Lindsey’s The Late Great Planet Earth, impressively tying modern events (the reunification of Israel, the rise of communism, the loosening morals of the postwar era) to biblical prophecy. One of the bestselling nonfiction books of the 1970s, it fueled the conversion of what would become much of the Christian right voting bloc of the 1980s.

A film adaptation starring Orson Welles hit theaters in 1978, but it was the low-budget rapture scare-fest A Thief In The Night that would set the template for not only countless films and novels about Armageddon, but an industry of fear-based plays, Christian haunted houses, and youth group sermons.

A Thief In The Night was filmed a short drive from where I grew up in Iowa. My parents were part of the tail end of the Jesus Movement (culture always reaches the midwest late) and hosted Bible studies and a youth center focused on end times prophecy. My mother wasn’t certain if the end was near, but my dad regularly told me there might come a time when we would have to live off the grid, grow our own food, avoid money (the Mark of the Beast) and live in hiding in the wilderness. If we were found, we would be tortured by the armies of the antichrist, determined to get us to accept “the mark”.

Our church held a screening of the sequel to A Thief In The Night, which was better financed and produced than its DIY predecessor. In A Distant Thunder , we follow a group of Christians who have been arrested by the antichrist’s fascist army, and have the choice to either receive the Mark of the Beast or be executed. They know that if they receive the mark, they will eventually “drink the wine of God’s wrath”, as Revelation 14:9 says. They “will be tormented with fire and sulfur … and the smoke of their torment goes up for ever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night.”

The task we’re given is to “be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life”.

A Distant Thunder ends with our lead character screaming hysterically as she watches her friends refuse to renounce Christ, then get decapitated by a guillotine.

My Christian friends and I were too young to understand the questionable leaps of biblical interpretation at work in these movies, or the political machinations fueling the cold war, the culture wars and the revolution of the Christian right in US politics. But we understood pain. We understood torture. We knew we were sinful. And we were convinced the world was not a safe place for us, and we shouldn’t get too comfortable in our beds at night.

After my parents divorced and Dad moved out, Mom worked around the clock at a nearby hotel while attending community college at night. I was alone a good deal of my childhood, and at least once a week I was convinced that everyone I’d known had been raptured up to Heaven, and I was about to face the violence, disease, starvation and isolation of the seven-year Tribulation. Worse, I might succumb to torture, agree to get the Mark of the Beast, and accept relief from momentary discomfort in exchange for an eternity of supernatural agony.

By the mid-90s, rapture fever was in full effect with my generation. DC Talk, arguably the Beatles of Christian rock, released a cover of Larry Norman’s rapture anthem I Wish We’d All Been Ready, with the heartthrob Kevin Max singing the bridge with an eerie vibrato: “The father spoke, the demons dined / how could you have been so blind?”

The same year, the evangelist Tim LaHaye and novelist Jerry B Jenkins released the first in a series of 16 Left Behind novels placing biblical prophecy in a modern context. I don’t know how many times I’d meet a new face at youth group or church camp saying the books had scared them straight. Meanwhile, speakers at my camp and Christian rock shows often tied the rapture to the coming Y2K disaster, and on New Year’s Eve I was honestly surprised when the lights didn’t go out – followed by explosions, sirens and gunfire – at the stroke of midnight.

It’s the marriage of ancient prophecy with contemporary tropes that strikes an urgent fear in audiences – especially children. When you’re still figuring out what the world is, it’s easy to be convinced that your home, family, everything that makes you feel safe is ephemeral and can easily be replaced with unspeakable horror.

After watching Left Behind: Rise of the Antichrist last week, we were treated to a special message from Sorbo, followed by footage of Mike Huckabee leading us in prayer.

“As you watched the movie, you probably noticed some scary references to the way the world looks today,” Sorbo explained in that gruff, fatherly voice I remember well from my childhood watching Hercules. “We live in a world of chaos, uncertainty and fear.”

The audience was mostly retirement age, and laughed heartily at jokes mocking “the media”, “trusting the science”, and liberals embracing “mental health experts” over “conspiracy theorists”. Much of the film reads like a Tucker Carlson segment come to life.

But I remembered very well the psychic impact this toxic theology has on a young mind. In fact, I don’t need to remember. I still dream of demons, hell, the Mark of the Beast and the Lake of Fire a few times a week, sometimes sleepwalking – or sleep running – out the front door, convinced the antichrist is coming to tattoo 666 on my forehead, followed by an eternity of torture in hell.

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Left Behind: Rise of the Antichrist

• Christian , Drama

Content Caution

In Theaters

• January 26, 2023
• Kevin Sorbo as Rayford Steele; Greg Perrow as Cameron “Buck” Williams; Charles Andrew Payne as Pastor Bruce Barnes; Neal McDonough as Jonathan Stonagal; Bailey Chase s Nicolae Carpathia; Corbin Bernsen as Steve Plank; Sam Sorbo as Amanda; Sarah Fisher as Chloe; Stafford Perry as Dirk; Braeden Sorbo as Connor

Home Release Date

• March 10, 2023
• Kevin Sorbo

Distributor

• Fathom Events

Movie Review

Thanos didn’t do it this time.

No, when millions of people simply vanished from the face of the Earth on one otherwise fine day, it wasn’t the result of an Infinity Stone-gloved snap . The experts would certainly scoff at that potential explanation. Why, that’s almost as silly (they would say) as believing the disappearances were because of the Rapture .

But if it’s not a Marvel movie and it’s not the biblical End Times, what is it? And could it happen again?

Intrepid reporter Buck Williams aims to get to the bottom of this global mystery. But he’s not getting much help. His boss wants him to stop asking so many questions already.

“The news? It’s no longer about the truth,” Buck gripes to his girlfriend, Chloe Steele. “It’s about the message. As if we’re afraid that [viewers] can’t handle the truth.”

Chloe and her grieving dad, Rayford, are focused on one terrible truth: Half of their family is gone now. Ray’s wife, Irene; and son, Raymie; vanished with all those millions of others. Again, the world has no explanations.

But here’s the thing: Irene told Ray that this very thing would happen. In fact, this very thing was prophesied literally 2,000 years ago. And while the experts say it wasn’t the Rapture, Ray suspects that maybe—just maybe —it was.

But if the vanishings were the Rapture, that means that other, darker forces are at work, too.

The world feels like it’s collapsing in the wake of the vanishings. Violent crime has risen exponentially. Suicides are up tenfold. Stepping into the chaos is Jonathan Stonagal—creator of Eden, the biggest social network in the world. He’s (ahem) generously offered to allow the world to use Eden as a new worldwide banking system—a conduit, he says, to ease financial panic and ensure the world’s citizens get what they need.

All he needs to make that happen is buy-in from two foot-dragging countries: Israel, which needs a Mideast peace treaty in order to sign on; and Romania.

But Romania’s charismatic leader, Nicolae Carpathia, wants some extra-special assurances from Stonagal before he climbs on board.

And those conditions will be a beast to meet.

Positive Elements

We offer a tip of the hat to Buck Williams, a popular cable news personality who returns to his investigative journalistic roots here. He’s unwilling to accept expert talking points on face value, and he’s determined to find out what’s really going on. When a second wave of vanishings allegedly strikes, Buck is immediately suspicious. And his investigations lead to some truly revelatory information. Buck risks both his career and life to bring those revelations to light.

He’s not alone. Buck is joined in his truth pursuit by Dirk, a conspiracy-minded hacker; and Connor, a born-again newbie at Buck’s cable network. All three are willing to go to significant lengths to expose the rotten roots behind Eden, and not all of them make it to the credits.

Speaking of credit, let’s also give some to Ray and Chloe and Bruce Barnes, a pastor of New Hope Church who was inexplicably (but not unexpectedly) left behind. All three had heard about the Rapture well before it happened. Pastor Barnes had even studied it thoroughly. ( Religiously , you might say.) All three—and millions of others—had rejected the truth lurking behind that Rapture, that Jesus is Lord and Savior.

We’ll get into the more explicitly spiritual journeys our protagonists find themselves on in the section below. But here, let’s just acknowledge that it takes courage to admit when you’re wrong.

And while must of the world continues to live in denial, these three, along with a few others we meet, understand that they rejected a truth that they should’ve not just accepted, but embraced and cherished. And by the movie’s end, they and others are determined to follow a new, harder path, and to bring as many other people as they can along with them.

Spiritual Elements

Obviously, Left Behind: Rise of the Antichrist is explicitly Christian. It’s based on Tim LaHaye’s and Jerry Jenkins’ incredibly popular Left Behind book series, which itself was based on how many interpret the book of Revelation and other prophetic Scriptures. It’s not the only interpretation—but it likely represents the most popular understanding among many evangelical Christians today.

And certainly, most of the events we see here are intended to point straight back to Scripture. For example: When characters wonder about Eden’s role in biblical prophecy, Pastor Barnes points back to Revelation 13:16-17, which indicates that “no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name.” Another example: We hear 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 quoted, where the Apostle Paul talks how during the Rapture the dead will “rise first,” followed by the living. Punctuating that truth, one character digs up a grave of a departed loved one to confirm that, yes, Paul was right. We could point to many, many other instances, but that gives you a flavor.

While Rise of the Antichrist stresses that the bad times are just beginning—we haven’t even hit the hardcore tribulations yet—they’re ramping up. A narrator reminds us, “Jesus told us that the world would hate Christians” as the film shows a vandalized church. “All Souls Matter” is scrawled on its marquee. Inside, the accusation “God is dead” is scrawled on the walls in red paint, and a pig’s head with a crown of thorns hangs on the cross.

“Why do people who don’t even believe in God suddenly hate Him so much?” The narrator speculates. “Because they have nobody else to blame it on.”

But some moments of spiritual beauty take place in the midst of that destruction and persecution. A pastor offers hope and encouragement via video, even though he himself was Raptured. “Whatever you have to face on Earth,” the pastor says, “It’s not too late. You can still spend eternity in heaven.” Several people commit to Christ during the course of the movie, most reciting a version of the Sinner’s Prayer. Pastor Barnes admits, “I may have given up on God, but I’m humbled to know that God hadn’t given up on me.”

We hear other Bible verses read and see well-used Bibles on screen. Some characters, pre-conversion, refer to the Bible as “that stupid book” and its adherents to “religious wackos.” Chloe tells her father, “I’m really not in the mood for church,” and hangs up on him; but a kindly woman manipulates circumstances to bring Chloe to church anyway. A Jewish man talks about his own faith while wearing a kippah, and we hear a few references to the Dome of the Rock, the Islamic holy site sitting where Solomon’s Temple once was. We learn that Solomon’s Temple was originally built right next door—and there are plans (in the film) to build a massive temple on the real original site.

Sexual Content

In the books, former pilot Rayford Steele admits that he had a “roving eye” before the Rapture, and we meet the flight attendant upon whom his eye landed.

Hattie visits Ray unexpectedly at his home, wearing a work outfit that reveals her back and a good deal of leg. She wraps her arms around Ray’s neck suggestively, but Ray extracts himself. “What almost happened between us, it doesn’t matter now,” he tells her. “I’ve accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, and you cannot find the truth without Him.”

Chloe and Buck are also dating, but the most physical affection we see between the two of them is an occasional hug or touch.

Violent Content

A man dies in an explosion. Three people are murdered—shot to death. (Guns are fired elsewhere, too.) We hear that one of Buck’s coworkers supposedly committed suicide (though the movie insinuates that that’s likely not true).

Someone is attacked by a knife-toting mugger. The would-be thief knocks the victim down and cuts her arm, and we see a bit of blood. (Later, the victim is told that the cut doesn’t even require stitches—just a bit of antibiotic. We see the wound a bit more as it’s treated.) She sprays the mugger’s face with mace, and he eventually runs off.

We learn that Pastor Barnes was also attacked by the same folks who vandalized his church. He’s lying down in a pew when Ray finds him—not, apparently, knocked out, but nursing a bruised jaw.

We see news clips indicating the world’s chaos and violence—though the most actual violence we see seems to be sequestered to scenes of fires burning in the street and riot police brandishing batons and whatnot. Buck also confronts his boss over horrific footage of people jumping to their deaths being used on his show. We, however, do not see that footage.

We do see the feet of an otherwise unseen character inching to what appears to be a building ledge as the narrator tells us about a drastic rise in suicides. On a news program, we learn that murders have risen by 300%, and suicides are up by 1,000%. (It’s being called a “pandemic of evil.”)

The finale of the film includes a high-speed car chase.

Crude or Profane Language

We hear two uses of the word “h—.”

Drug and Alcohol Content

Stonagal and Nicolae Carpathia sip what seems to be whiskey as they discuss their conspiracy to, essentially, take over the world’s entire financial system.

Other Negative Elements

Rise of the Antichrist has been updated, obviously, from the original books (written in an age before social media was a thing). We hear plenty of references to more modern events, especially COVID (both overt and more subtle nods). And while those more political allusions are not necessarily “negative,” depending on your point of view, they’re certainly pervasive.

When a handful of characters ask Pastor Barnes who or what they can trust in this age of misinformation, Barnes tells them this:

“Trust God. Trust Jesus. Trust the Bible. And for literally anyone else, take what they’re saying to you and weigh it against the word. And then you pray, pray, pray. For God’s help, not to be led astray.”

It’s in moments like these when Left Behind: Rise of the Antichrist , is at its strongest—when it leans into the ultimate truth of the movie, and the greatest truth of all. It’s at its best when the characters are on their knees, just like the rest of us should always be.

Rise of the Antichrist has some other strong moments in it, as well. The writing can feel crisp and even funny; it clips along at a reasonably good pace, as a thriller should. And it comes with some pretty decent acting, too. (Neal McDonough, who plays Stonagal, is always a riveting presence on screen, be it in secular or spiritual movies.)

But it’s still a bit uneven. For me, the movie’s socio-political allusions slowed down the pace and felt not just unnecessary, but distracting. And fans of the book—presumably the primary audience for Rise of the Antichrist —may find the movie’s departures from LaHaye’s and Jenkins’ work distracting.

I’d like to see this series continue. The Left Behind books were such a phenomenon back in the day. And because they were written as apocalyptic adventure thrillers, the source content lends itself to cinema. Rise of the Antichrist feels like a modest step up from the Left Behind movies that came before—but I think that future iterations can be better yet.

Paul Asay has been part of the Plugged In staff since 2007, watching and reviewing roughly 15 quintillion movies and television shows. He’s written for a number of other publications, too, including Time, The Washington Post and Christianity Today. The author of several books, Paul loves to find spirituality in unexpected places, including popular entertainment, and he loves all things superhero. His vices include James Bond films, Mountain Dew and terrible B-grade movies. He’s married, has two children and a neurotic dog, runs marathons on occasion and hopes to someday own his own tuxedo. Feel free to follow him on Twitter @AsayPaul.

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• Entertainment
• Movie Review

'Left Behind': when God becomes a Hollywood monster

A terrible book about the apocalypse gets even bleaker.

• By Adi Robertson
• on October 9, 2014 10:00 am
• @thedextriarchy

I’ll admit, I didn’t expect to walk out of a terrible Nicolas Cage movie thinking about theodicy.

From the moment it was announced, I developed a morbid curiosity about the latest attempt at a film adaptation of Left Behind, the 1995 novel that kicked off a wildly popular series about the Christian Rapture. No matter how terrible they were, for a certain wave of evangelical, Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins’ novels were a cultural touchstone. They were part of a rich tradition of religiously charged science fiction, a ripped-from-the-headlines chronicle of the end of days “factually” based on close analysis (but creative interpretation) of the Bible. And the movie, I thought, could be campy enough to transcend its source material. So in a nearly empty Manhattan multiplex theater, I saw Left Behind on opening night.

As it turns out, Left Behind has very little to do with the novel it’s based on. In many ways, that’s a very good thing. The first book in LaHaye’s series follows two protagonists: "revered" airline pilot Rayford Steele and superstar journalist Cameron "Buck" Williams. Unexplained disappearances rock the world, and a charismatic Antichrist rises to power, while Rayford, his daughter Chloe, and Buck prepare to survive the end times as part of the guerrilla "Tribulation Force." This all sounds tremendously exciting, until you realize that both men are arrogant and vindictive bores, the Rapture is forgotten within a few chapters, and the Antichrist is a minor Romanian politician jockeying for leadership of the UN.

With its unpleasant characters, glacial pace, and bizarre preoccupation with phone calls and travel plans, Left Behind may be one of the dullest books (and most cynical money grabs, since its story would be stretched over 15 more volumes and a young adult series) to ever hit the bestseller lists. A 2000 film adaptation, starring Kirk Cameron of Growing Pains , didn’t redeem it.

I’m reasonably confident guessing the original script for this version of Left Behind was not written for Tim LaHaye’s megafranchise at all. The characters and basic setup of the book are channeled into a disaster movie about Rayford (played by Nicolas Cage) struggling to land his plane amid the chaos of millions of people inexplicably disappearing. It’s more Langoliers than Leftovers : runways have gone dark, fuel is running low, and the remaining passengers are growing more paranoid by the minute. There’s no UN, no Antichrist, and in fact the whole plot of the movie covers 25 pages in the book — although, granted, they’re probably the most exciting 25 pages.

The whole plot of the movie covers 25 pages in the book

Left Behind is far less overtly religious than its source. But stripping out almost the entire plot reveals a grim story about religion, evil, and salvation. One of the long-running criticisms of the series, covered at length in writer Fred Clark’s brilliant deconstruction of the novels, is that it’s a fundamentalist revenge fantasy, where an angry God comes back to give sinners their just deserts. The book portrays most of those left behind as either willfully ignorant or outright evil, to the point of including a conversation about how doctors are upset that there are no fetuses left to abort. In turning an evangelical book into a semi-secular movie, the filmmakers somehow, perhaps accidentally, made the story even bleaker: God is capricious and terrifying, and he is going to hurt you.

In any medium, this is an inescapable fact of Left Behind , and of most Christian accounts of the apocalypse. Still, it’s usually balanced by descriptions of God’s love and a promise of protection and eternal life if sinners are born again. Someone may question why God allows evil in the world — as Chloe frequently does in the film — but they’re quickly set straight. Fans of Left Behind in particular often describe it as a hopeful book, promising that redemption is still possible after believers disappear. Whether or not it’s convincing, there’s at least an assertion that God is, in fact, good, and people who reject him are getting what they deserve.

There’s relatively little discussion of Christian beliefs in Left Behind , except for a few quotes about natural disasters and a sudden apocalypse. It plays the apocalypse straight, the way any science fiction movie might. And absent the lens of theology, God is simply a mysterious force that’s directly behind millions of disappearances and indirectly behind millions more outright deaths. Raptured Christians come off less as beacons of truth and more like members of a Cthulhoid death cult who were right in our midst all along. Left Behind half-heartedly hews to the idea that the people who remain will benefit from having their lives changed, but its characters aren’t written harshly enough to be selfish, ignorant stereotypes or well enough to be good-intentioned but flawed individuals. They’re just decent people, suffering. So without the Antichrist to play off, we see only the pure wrath of an unstoppable being that shows up, steals your loved ones, and demands that you be thankful for it. God doesn’t simply allow evil, he plays the part himself.

Unfortunately, Left Behind has bigger problems as simple entertainment. It starts with an aimless, meandering half-hour of pointless banter and earnest discussion between major characters, interspersed with almost completely extraneous vignettes of people who will never be seen again. Chloe and Buck are introduced with a forced meet-cute, and the passengers on Rayford’s plane are thinly drawn cliches created to fill supernatural-disaster-movie quotas. Nicolas Cage is the film’s biggest star, but he’s sadly reserved here, removing one of the biggest reasons to watch Left Behind in the first place.

There’s a solid half-hour of enjoyable action flick in Left Behind . The premise of a handful of people (well, the plane actually still seems reasonably full, but the movie quickly forgets about anyone in coach class) trapped in the sky and trying not to turn against each other is too much fun to ruin completely, even if much of the drama seems sudden, manufactured, and unconvincing. Very little of what Chloe does on the ground during that time makes narrative sense, but she moves fast enough that it doesn’t matter too much. But the movie is stretched too thin over too many genres: it’s a series of personal dramas stitched into an action movie with the occasional element of horror, backed by cheap special effects and sudden shifts between secular and Christian themes.

Left Behind bears some of the hallmarks of a made-for-TV religious movie, including a bland, schmaltzy, and often totally inappropriate score — it ends with a contemporary gospel-sounding cover of Larry Norman’s "I Wish We’d All Been Ready," from the 1970s Rapture-themed film A Thief in the Night. Technically, it hews reasonably close to the novel’s interpretation of the end times. I’m sure the studio is depending on Christian audiences to boost ticket sales, especially since Left Behind would be little more than a by-the-numbers action movie without the big-name connection. But it’s not really accurate to call it a "Christian film," and strangely, that tension might be the only interesting thing about it.

Hollywood is occasionally criticized for toning down religious themes to make films more broadly palatable, whether that means softening something supporting a given faith or something attacking it. By apparently attempting the former, though, Left Behind indicts the darkest parts of its source text, in a way that’s somehow more pointed than secular stories that use the Rapture as a backdrop. There’s no gotcha here, no mockery of religion, no revelation that God is not what He seems. Just a loose translation that shows how strange, how cruel, an idea can look when exposed to the harsh light of genre storytelling.

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• World & Politics

‘Left Behind’ stirs end-times discussion

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NASHVILLE (BP) — Despite negative reviews by some secular and Christian film critics, the end-times thriller “Left Behind” starring Nicolas Cage grossed nearly $7 million at the box office during its opening weekend and helped place renewed focus on the doctrine of Christ’s second coming.

“It’s a good film, one that doesn’t preach, but does remind moviegoers that there is a time when life will end on earth, one way or another,” Christian film critic Phil Boatwright told Baptist Press in written comments. “And, it subtly asks us if we are preparing for it.”

“Left Behind,” released Oct. 3, finished sixth in weekend earnings behind “Gone Girl” and “Annabelle,” but ahead of “Bang Bang” and “The Good Lie” — all in their opening weekends as well. While “Left Behind” was shown in just 1,825 theaters, each of the five films that finished ahead of it in gross earnings was shown in at least 3,000 theaters, according to the website Box Office Mojo.

Based on the bestselling novel of the same title, “Left Behind” depicts a future rapture of the church preceding Jesus’ second coming. The plot focuses on airline pilot Rayford Steele (played by Cage) and journalist Buck Williams (Chad Michael Murray) as they respond to the rapture of several passengers and crew members on a transatlantic airline flight.

Boatwright called “Left Behind,” rated PG-13 for violence and some references to drugs and sexual immorality, “well-made, well-acted and intense.”

“It could be said that the production is as much about appreciating family as it is about the rapture,” Boatwright said. “One reviewer assessed Nicolas Cage as looking tired throughout. I found the performance steady and authoritative, like Dean Martin’s airline pilot in Airport (many years ago). And the special effects are definitely a step up from the 2000 version with Kirk Cameron. This Left Behind may not be the best film of all time, but I don’t think it deserves the antagonism I’ve read in other reviews.”

A more negative review published in Christianity Today called the film “just a disaster flick injected with the slightest, most infinitesimal amount of Christianity possible.”

“Most Christians within the world of the movie — whether the street-preacher lady at the airport or Rayford Steele’s wife — are portrayed as insistent, crazy, delusional, or at the very least just really annoying,” Jackson Cuidon wrote in CT. “Steele’s wife’s conversion to Christianity is shown to have pushed her and her husband apart; we see that she’s decorated her house with crosses, throw-pillows that say ‘Pray’ across the front, and encouraging posters.

“That is the deepest conception of Christianity that his movie has: posters, pillows, and crucifixes,” Cuidon wrote.

The movie depicts an interpretation of Bible prophecy known as dispensational premillennialism, which teaches that Jesus will return to earth twice, once secretly to remove the church in a “rapture” preceding a period of tribulation, and once openly to defeat His enemies and end history as we know it.

The provost at one Southern Baptist seminary said the film’s release coincides with “a genuine renewed interest in the end times.”

“Broadly speaking, I suspect the dispensational premillennial view of the end times finds quite common adherence throughout Southern Baptist churches as [it] has been deeply held by many for the last century,” Jason Duesing, provost of Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, told BP in written comments. He added that many Southern Baptists are “comfortably ‘agnostic’ when it comes to the end times.”

While “Left Behind” may spur discussion, “the film tells a fictional story and uses theology to do so,” Duesing said. “… It is not primarily a theological presentation. So when I am talking about dispensational premillenialism, I have in mind the historical and theological presentation of that view, not the Hollywood version.”

Various Christian viewpoints on the end times differ largely in their interpretation of the “millennium,” the “thousand years” referenced six times in Revelation 20:2-7. The term “millennium” derives from the Latin words “mille anni” meaning “thousand years.”

In addition to dispensational premillennialism, there are at least three other major views on the timing of Christ’s second coming relative to the millennium:

— Historic premillennialism teaches that Christ will return before a thousand-year period of His reign on earth — but only once, with no secret rapture of the church. Historic premillennialism was popular among second- and third-century church fathers, and has had proponents in every era of church history.

— Postmillennialism teaches that there will be a thousand-year period of peace and righteousness on earth preceding Christ’s return. This position was popular among Baptists at the Southern Baptist Convention’s founding in 1845 but became obsolete in the 20th century, when the horrors of two world wars left few Christians believing the world would transition seamlessly into a period of harmony and peace.

— Amillennialism teaches that Revelation’s “thousand years” is not a future era of earth’s history, but a figurative designation for either Christ’s present reign in the church or His eternal reign in the new heavens and new earth. Though not popular among Southern Baptist conservatives in the late 20th century, amillennialism originated in the second and third centuries, like premillennialism, and has been held by believers throughout church history.

The idea of two separate returns of Christ, as portrayed in “Left Behind,” is a relatively recent innovation, arising in the early 1900s with the Brethren Movement in Britain. The idea was popularized by C.I. Scofield through his Scofield Reference Bible.

Dispensational premillennialism was revised in later editions of the Scofield Bible and by various theologians of the 20th century, including Southern Baptists.

The Baptist Faith and Message does not address the millennium, stating simply that “Jesus will return personally and visibly in glory to the earth” (Article X).

Amillennialists and premillennialists of every variety coexist in all realms of Baptist life, with proponents of each position affirming the inerrancy of Scripture. Hardly any Baptists regard differing positions on the millennium as an obstacle to cooperation in missions, theological education, evangelism and cultural engagement.

Duesing noted that today, “many younger Southern Baptists are likely to denounce dispensationalism because they feel they should” or “due to deeply held convictions. However, while I do hear of some enthusiasts embracing ammillenialism, mostly I find students defaulting to historic premillenialism.”

While Left Behind may provoke end-times reflection, Duesing cautioned moviegoers to view it as entertainment and not theological instruction.

“As with all films, much is made of their potential impact at the time of their release and often controversy ensues (for better or worse), but as with even the most memorable and life changing of films, the impact fades and one recalls that these are more cultural artifacts of entertainment than anything else,” Duesing said. “My understanding is that the Left Behind film aims more to be wholesome entertainment for families rather than catechism. Christians who watch the film thus should view it as such and not expect it to serve as a vehicle first for apologetic or sanctifying impact.”

About the Author

David roach.

David Roach is a writer in Mobile, Ala.

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‘god has your back’: actor neal mcdonough talks new end times film, standing strong for his faith.

Actor Neal McDonough has starred in no shortage of Hollywood films and TV shows, but his latest project, "Left Behind: Rise of the Antichrist," is truly unique.

The film, which tells the story of what life might look like after the biblical rapture, is directed by Kevin Sorbo — who also stars in the movie — and will hit theaters Thursday.

McDonough told "The Edifi Podcast" it was a "blessing" to be part of the cast and shared some insight on his character, Jonathan Stonagal, a wealthy and influential man central to the "Left Behind" storyline.

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"It's nice to tap into people who are the big decision makers on this planet, and how these people get to power, and how they, at times, use their power for good," he said. "And, at times, some of them use their power for obviously malicious intent and … their own betterment."

Listen to McDonough discuss his faith, avoiding sex scenes, and why he wanted to star in "Left Behind":

McDonough said putting these sorts of characters in the spotlight can show people how to be "wary" of those who claim to want to lead but are actually "just for themselves."

"I think these kinds of tales are so well received by so many people because it talks about real life," he said. "You know, there's the obvious massive scale that this film touches upon, but for me, it's always the minutiae of the characters. And the characters in this piece are really well-crafted."

The actor openly discussed his Catholic faith and spoke about how God has blessed his life in incredible ways, including with a loving wife, wonderful kids and a multifaceted career.

McDonough said he's incredibly "humbled" when he considers all he's been able to accomplish.

"God has given me so much and has blessed me with so much that it's nice to play characters like this that take me out of me for a moment, and [I] realize, 'Holy cow. I'm so fortunate to be the person that I am,'" McDonough said. "And surrounded by the people that God has surrounded me with."

The actor said being in front of the camera is his "second happiest place on the planet," next to being with his wife, Ruve McDonough. McDonough has long made headlines for his refusal to do sex scenes; he was allegedly fired in 2010 from the show, "Scoundrels," over his personal policies.

He also doesn't kiss others on-screen and has reportedly long been open about that fact as well. When asked about his filming guidelines, he was candid.

"I have to play a lot of villains because I won't do certain scenes, and that's fine," he said. "I've loved my career getting to play Damien Darhk for all these years, getting to play all these other villainist characters because it … makes me realize even more how much God has given me."

In addition to his committed marriage, McDonough also spoke about his love for parenthood and the values he pours into his children. He said he and his wife encourage their kids to work hard, showing them the ins and outs of movie set life.

"Don't just sit around and think that you're going to get things easy in this house," he said of his message to his children. "You got to work it. If you work hard in life and you're a good person, good things will happen to you."

As for the lesson he's hoping "Left Behind: Rise of the Antichrist" teaches, he said it's all about building faith in God and oneself.

"Believe in yourself, believe in yourself wholeheartedly and know that God has your back," he said. "Those are the tenets that we kind of live by in our house."

"People are going to say horrible things about you. People are going to tempt you with horrible things. People are going to throw everything off."

But rather than falling prey, McDonough encouraged people to turn to the Lord. Find out more about "Left Behind" and get tickets here .

This story originally appeared on Faithwire.com.

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CHRISTIAN MOVIE REVIEW

Review: left behind, by hannah goodwyn senior producer.

CBN.com - The new remake of Left Behind , starring Nicolas Cage and Lea Thompson, had all the promise of being a spiritual thriller that brings Christian and mainstream audiences together in movie theaters this weekend. Based on the best-selling book by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins, Left Behind tells a fictional story of what could happen when God calls all believers to Heaven during a time referred to as the Rapture. What filmmakers on this movie have created in this new release is, unfortunately, more disastrous than it is rapturous.

THE MOVIE IN A MINUTE

In the blink of eye, bodies vanish. Piles of clothes lay where passengers on pilot Rayford Steele’s flight to London once sat. Already halfway across the Atlantic Ocean, Steele and his flight crew struggle to keep the other passengers calm after all of the children and some of the adults suddenly disappear. On the ground, Rayford’s daughter Chloe frantically searches for answers as the world around her begins to burn.

THE GOOD AND BAD IN LEFT BEHIND

First, the good in Left Behind is found in its visuals, specifically during the flight scenes when the airline jet meets some perilous problems. Having Cage in the midst of the fray is another thing Left Behind has going for it. Presenting this version of the “last days” to audiences across the nation is a definite positive. From a critic’s perspective, Left Behind also has its problems. The screenplay is somewhat clunky, and, at times, the music is disengaging. The numerous storylines don’t weave well together in this rendering of LaHaye and Jenkins’ story. With all of the explosions and crying, we should feel intensely moved watching these characters and their worlds fall apart. That kind of impact may not hit us all. Scripture speaks of a time when Jesus Christ will return and anyone who believes in Him will go to Heaven. The specifics aren’t known (see Mark 13:32). Controversy surrounds this extremely important topic, even amongst church circles. Some argue that the theology implied in this version of events is not biblically accurate. Even with that understanding in mind, this film does prompts you to consider the “last days”, which is biblical. The disappointment, from a Christian moviegoer’s perspective, is that the film doesn’t fully engage, making this future encounter more provoking. It seems like the big points were glossed over and more focus was put on explosive action. Rated PG-13 for scenes of mayhem, destruction and disturbing images, Left Behind isn’t appropriate for young audiences.

This new take on Left Behind is better than the original. However, you may feel a little disappointed, when you realize how much more this remake could haven been.

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Left Behind: Movie Review

Hannah Goodwyn

Share This article

The new remake of Left Behind , starring Nicolas Cage and Lea Thompson, had all the promise of being a spiritual thriller that brings Christian and mainstream audiences together in movie theaters this weekend. Based on the best-selling book by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins, Left Behind tells a fictional story of what could happen when God calls all believers to Heaven during a time referred to as the Rapture. What filmmakers on this movie have created in this new release is, unfortunately, more disastrous than it is rapturous.

THE MOVIE IN A MINUTE

In the blink of eye, bodies vanish. Piles of clothes lay where passengers on pilot Rayford Steele’s flight to London once sat. Already halfway across the Atlantic Ocean, Steele and his flight crew struggle to keep the other passengers calm after all of the children and some of the adults suddenly disappear. On the ground, Rayford’s daughter Chloe frantically searches for answers as the world around her begins to burn.

THE GOOD AND BAD IN LEFT BEHIND

First, the good in Left Behind is found in its visuals, specifically during the flight scenes when the airline jet meets some perilous problems. Having Cage in the midst of the fray is another thing Left Behind has going for it. Presenting this version of the “last days” to audiences across the nation is a definite positive. From a critic’s perspective, Left Behind also has its problems. The screenplay is somewhat clunky, and, at times, the music is disengaging. The numerous storylines don’t weave well together in this rendering of LaHaye and Jenkins’ story. With all of the explosions and crying, we should feel intensely moved watching these characters and their worlds fall apart. That kind of impact may not hit us all. Scripture speaks of a time when Jesus Christ will return and anyone who believes in Him will go to Heaven. The specifics aren’t known (see Mark 13:32 Close Mark 13:32 "However, no one knows the day or hour when these things will happen, not even the angels in heaven or the Son himself. Only the Father knows. OPEN VERSE IN BIBLE (nlt) ). Controversy surrounds this extremely important topic, even amongst church circles. Some argue that the theology implied in this version of events is not biblically accurate. Even with that understanding in mind, this film does prompts you to consider the “last days”, which is biblical. The disappointment, from a Christian moviegoer’s perspective, is that the film doesn’t fully engage, making this future encounter more provoking. It seems like the big points were glossed over and more focus was put on explosive action. Rated PG-13 for scenes of mayhem, destruction and disturbing images, Left Behind isn’t appropriate for young audiences.

This new take on Left Behind is better than the original. However, you may feel a little disappointed, when you realize how much more this remake could haven been.

About The Author

Hannah Goodwyn served as a Senior Producer for CBN.com, managing and writing for the award-winning website. After her undergraduate studies at Christopher Newport University, Hannah went on to study Journalism at the graduate level. In 2005, she graduated summa cum laude with her Master's from Regent University and was honored with an Outstanding Student Award. From there, Hannah began work as a content producer for CBN.com. For ten years, she acted as the managing producer for the website's Family and Entertainment sections. A movie buff, Hannah felt right at home working as CBN.com's More

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Reviewed by: Raphael Vera CONTRIBUTOR

Rapture: This term is most commonly used to refer to the Bible prophecy where faithful believers are taken up to Heaven before the apocalyptic end of days tribulation period of 7 years.

affairs / adultery

Why does God allow innocent people to suffer? Answer

What about the issue of suffering? Doesn’t this prove that there is no God and that we are on our own? Answer

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about the Bible

“ Left Behind ” (2000) “ Left Behind II: Tribulation Force ” (2002) “ Left Behind: World at War ” (2005)

“The end begins.”

W hat will you do when the world as you know it suddenly comes to an end? How will the world react if all children, from every corner of the globe vanish? “Left Behind” attempts to paint a picture of the day this happens as untold millions of people disappear at the same moment and without a clue.

The day begins innocently enough when a young college student named Chloe (Cassi Thomson) arrives at her hometown airport to visit her parents on the day of her dad’s birthday. Unfortunately, her father Ray Steele, played with likable ease by Nicolas Cage, is piloting a commercial flight to London within the hour. An impromptu meeting with him is marred when she sees her dad openly flirting with a flight attendant named Hattie Durham (Nicky Whelan).

Also at the airport is well-known photo journalist Buck Williams (Chad Michael Murray) who is confronted by a stranger informing him that the “ famines and earthquakes ” that he has covered were prophesied in the Bible and are signs that the world will soon come to judgment ( Matthew Chapter 24 ). Before Buck can say much else, Chloe, who happens to be walking by, takes on the stranger by questioning the existence of God . It becomes obvious that she and Buck have made a connection over this episode, and, as her dad goes to prepare for the flight, Buck is also talking and even exchange numbers before he too has to board the plane.

The flight takes off and Hattie is soon boasting to fellow stewardess Kimmy that she and Ray will be enjoying the weekend in London “together” for the first time. Meanwhile, Chloe has arrived home and soon accosts her mom ( Lea Thompson ) for recently finding God , which must have so alienated dad he felt compelled to work on his birthday, the whole point of her visit. Frustrated, Chloe decides to go to the mall with her little brother Raymie (Major Dodson), and it is then, during the middle of the day, on the plane her dad is piloting, and, in fact, all over the world that millions of people suddenly vanish with nothing but their clothes remaining.

Planes, cars and school buses, suddenly devoid of drivers, crash, and everywhere panic erupts as shocked and bewildered parents discover that their kids, the very young and innocent, have also been snatched from them in the twinkling of an eye.

The rest of the film divides its time between the danger on board Ray’s flight, as there may be no place to land in New York, his panicking passengers who have lost loved ones in mid-air, a hometown gone mad and Chloe’s journey as she, like her dad come to the slow realization that they had been warned about this before and now have no idea what comes next.

After an admittedly slow build up, “Left Behind” does get interesting, and the interaction between the passengers showcases the “everyman’s” reactions and biases that inevitably arise in any emergency situation.

Objectionable Content

Language. Minor. The closest the film comes to taking God’s name in vain is when Hattie discovers her co-worker is gone and exclaims, “Oh God, Kimmy!”, otherwise God’s name is either said in deference or else defiant as in, “How can a loving God allow this?” Profanity was almost non-existent save for a single “S***” word which was so out of place with the rest of the movie that I missed it the first time I saw the movie, but it is there none-the-less. Why it was included in an otherwise Christian film is beyond me. Ray intends to be unfaithful while on this trip, yet no explicit details are given by him or Hattie.

Violence: Moderate to heavy. Aside from the panic, seen locally and worldwide via television, there is wholesale looting of stores, people fighting each other, many crashes, and a man is shot trying to rob a jewelry store. People are threatened by guns and two “threaten” suicide , but no blood is ever shown, and neither are any deaths on screen, aside from the robber. A school bus goes off a bridge, but no driver or children are found. There is the peril of planes crashing into each other, and people everywhere are seen falling into a frenzied mob mentality.

Violence against oneself, in the form of drug abuse (still often erroneously referred to as a victimless crime), is also shown when a passenger resorts to this in order to escape the horror of what has happened (unsuitable for younger children, especially due to the intensity of the situations).

Sex/Nudity: Mild. Ray clearly intends to be unfaithful to his wife Irene, but no details are discussed, either by him or Hattie. When we first see Hattie, the camera focuses on her legs, and her blouse is probably a size too small, as she is practically bursting out of it. Chloe shows her own cleavage, though most often in threatening situations where the tension overrides the moment. I noticed nothing else bordering on inappropriate.

A Muslim passenger suggests, after hearing numerous theories on the disappearances (alien abduction, invisibility), that they all consider prayer . While this instigates an argument on the plane as to, “whose God do we pray to?”, the point is a Biblically valid one and supported by the whole of the Bible, for good reason. At times of judgment , prayers to God have saved his people, as when Moses cried out on their behalf.

“I feared the anger and wrath of the Lord, for he was angry enough with you to destroy you. But again the Lord listened to me.” - Deuteronomy 9:19

God’s only begotten Son , Jesus Christ , advises us more than once what could be accomplished if we only put our faith in prayer .

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.” — Matthew 7:7-8

Ray had not yet been physically unfaithful to his wife, but he is clearly planning to commit adultery with Hattie while in London (having first committed adultery in his heart). His alienation from his wife may have begun the day she was saved , a year earlier, however the Bible warns us that by dwelling on desires we know are wrong , no matter what the “excuse,” it will inevitably lead to acting out the sin .

“But each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire , he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived it gives birth to sin ; and sin when it is full-grown, gives birth to death .” — James 1:14-15

SEXUAL LUST —What does the Bible say about it? Answer

FORNICATION and ADULTERY in the Bible

PURITY —Should I save sex for marriage? Answer

The film depicts an instantaneous departure of God’s chosen, and I found the scenes an interesting modern interpretation of well known New Testament Scripture , including:

“Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.” — Matthew 24:40

Looking for answers, Chloe heads for her church , only to find it deserted, except for Pastor Barnes (Lance E. Nichols). Shocked, she asks him why wasn’t he taken (raptured), and he is forced to admit the reason when he says, “I knew the Words, I could quote them chapter and verse, but that’s not enough, you have to believe.” Our Lord himself warned us that many who call on his name would find themselves in the same position for lack of faith , and the deeds that follow faith as a matter of course.

“Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not do what I say?” — Luke 6:46 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the kingdom of heaven , but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven .” - Matthew 7:21

Based on the popular twelve (12) part book series, readers familiar with the works should be aware that the film only covers content from a few chapters of book one. The anti-Christ never gets introduced, so we don’t get to see the world government begin to take shape under his leadership. A few other liberties are also taken with the storyline, making it seem more like a real-time disaster film, but more in the tradition of an episodic TV series like “24”.

As an “end-time” film, it captures well the utter sense of hopelessness that must take place after the Rapture. The kind that will drive many to thoughts of suicide and yet others to God, and that will be what comes next for those “left behind”—the choice to then acknowledge Jesus as Lord or to continue to live this life rejecting him. Yet, as desperately as it is portrayed, real events will pan out much more tragically than can be captured by a writer’s imagination. Hopefully, the film will encourage many to do their own research on the subject, beginning with the most reliable source—that of God’s Word -because no one can truly know his timing and we all need to be focusing on Him lest we be caught unawares.

“Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.” — Matthew 24:42-44

“Left Behind” is a decently made, taut and suspenseful drama with enough humor to keep it interesting, but the small budget, by Hollywood measures, gives it a small screen (TV) quality that is occasionally hard to ignore. Messaging, however, is excellent (as far as it goes), and it made me wish this had instead been produced as a year-long TV series, as I do believe it deserves high marks for effort, though slightly lower for execution.

Violence: Moderate to heavy / Profanity: Mild—“My God” (2), “Oh God” (1), s-word (1) / Sex/Nudity: Mild

official site: LeftBehindMovie.com

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‘Left Behind’ Review: Nicolas Cage’s Bible Movie Is God-Awful

Overt Christian messages and Nicolas Cage’s omnipresence are not the only reasons why this film about the rapture is terrible. The true apocalypse is that it has no soul.

Matthew Paul Turner

Stoney Lake Entertainment

Left Behind , the much-anticipated film about the beginning of the end of the world, is exactly what you think it is: a Christian movie starring Nicolas Cage. That the Academy Award-winning actor and star of National Treasure , Leaving Las Vegas , and The Croods is playing the lead role in a film with obvious motivations to evangelize becomes abundantly clear early on, and that fact is born again and again (and again) for the better part of two hours.

Amid this cinematic feature about strangers who find themselves having to be with each other in the aftermath of an event in which millions disappear worldwide, it’s impossible to forget that Left Behind is a Christian movie starring Nicolas Cage. Why? Because the strategically placed Bibles, the awkward and forced theological debates, the not-so subtle Christian messages, the unrealistic religious tension, and Nicolas Cage are always present to remind us that we’re watching a movie made by evangelicals for evangelical purposes. Ooh, and look, there’s Nicolas Cage.

But overt Christian messages and Cage’s omnipresence are not the only reasons why Left Behind is a terrible movie. And yes, it’s indeed terrible—god-awful, a less interesting, more convoluted version of the original Left Behind . Yes, this Vic Armstrong-directed “apocalyptic thriller” is Left Behind ’s second coming to the big screen. Those hoping that this Left Behind is a beefed-up, more sophisticatedly produced, and action-packed (perhaps better?) version of its original —a Cloud Ten production that released in 2000 and featured Kirk Cameron in the starring role—will be sorely disappointed.

While some of the special effects are a bit more grandiose than the outdated effects happening around Kirk Cameron’s head in his Left Behind , other than the names of characters and a few recognizable-yet-tweaked storylines this remake pays little resemblance to its predecessor. Which is actually a shame, really, because the original Left Behind , though hardly a good movie, did at least include something of an actual story. Yes, it was terrible. But compared to 2014’s Left Behind , it’s an epic.

In this new Left Behind , the prophetic narrative first told in Jerry Jenkins’ and Tim LaHaye’s multimillion-selling novel, also called Left Behind , is all but missing. Though the screenplays for both the original and its reborn successor were written by the same duo, Paul LaLonde and John Patus, and both focus on what happens to a small group of people following the return of Jesus Christ, fans of the book and of the Dispensational theology on which its based will likely find little more than its mission to proselytize to celebrate in Armstrong’s new tale.

But the true apocalypse of this new Left Behind —what makes it far worse than that bad original—is that it’s a soulless Christian movie starring Nicolas Cage. Which is ironic, since the idea of “soul” is such an integral part of Christianity and Christianity is such an integral part of Left Behind .

And though the theology of Left Behind is strange and unbelievable, it also could, in the right hands, inspire a hell of a story. But that’s what’s missing in here; this so-called apocalyptic thriller is void of a story— Left Behind is about as close to being storyless as you can get before being called static.

Even in spots where a story happens to evolve, it’s so formulaic, so cheesy, so embarrassing that it offers no real reason to care or heck, even believe that the characters we meet in Left Behind are actually human and encountering a life-changing event, let alone something that supposedly is about to change everything they know to be true about the world. The filmmakers are too busy using their characters as megaphones in order to tell us what they believe is true, that the return of Jesus is imminent and you better be ready.

There’s always a message, rarely a storyline.

During the first 32 minutes of Left Behind , the message is this: Christians are nut jobs . That’s the mantra we hear when we meet Rayford Steele (Nicolas Cage). Steele is a husband, a father of two, and an airline pilot who’s having an affair with a flight attendant because his wife is cheating on him with—wait for it—Jesus.

Yes, Jesus. Apparently, after converting to evangelical Christianity, Irene Steele (Lea Thompson) turned into the kind of Bible thumper that would make Rick Santorum blush, and her constant attempts to get Rayford to trust in Jesus have put a strain on their relationship. But Irene must be annoying because even her daughter, Chloe (Cassi Thomson), a sophomore in college, can’t stand to be around her.

Which is why Rayford volunteered to work on his birthday, because his wife is in love with Jesus but also because he wants to rendezvous in London at a U2 concert (yes, a U2 concert) with his lover, Hattie Durham (Nicky Whelan), a beautiful blonde who’s much younger than Steele, and so naive that she’s completely unaware that the object of her affection is fiftysomething and married with kids.

All of this family drama comes to a head at a food court at JFK. Not only are Rayford and Hattie at the airport, but Chloe (Ray’s daughter) is there, too! Having just arrived on a plane from college, she’s come home for a surprise party for her father. Upon learning that he’s now working, Chloe makes plans to confront him at the gate before he boards his flight. As she’s waiting, Chloe just so happens to overhear an outspoken Christian female (she’d just purchased a book called Acts of God at the airport bookstore moments before) passionately proclaiming her End Times doctrines about God to Buck Williams (Chad Michael Murray), a well-known news anchor and author.

Once again, the message rings clear: Christians are batshit crazy for believing in the Rapture . As the Christian lady quotes Bible verses at Buck, an irritated Chloe darts into the conversation and interjects her snappy anti-God opinion at the lady. Buck falls for Chloe’s feisty godless ways and, as they’re waiting for her father to arrive, the two engage in another cliché conversation about how nutty Christians are (Chloe even calls her mother a “whack job,” as if it’s a novel term) and there, during a four-minute conversation, the chemistry between Chloe and Buck heats up. Then, Chloe and her father have a heart to heart about how “crazy Mom the Christian is,” and then Rayford gets on the plane. Buck, who’s also flying to London, kisses Chloe before boarding the plane.

The message about how crazy Christians are is reiterated a couple more times, once when Chloe and her mom get into a fight about God and religion, which forces Chloe, along with her brother, to head to the mall.

But then, at minute 33, as Rayford, Hattie, Buck, and like 14 stereotypes (among them an angry little person, a selfish middle-aged businessman, a devout Muslim, and American Idol ’s Jordin Sparks playing an angry paranoid rich mother who’s managed to sneak a gun onto the plane) are flying to London and Chloe and her little brother are shopping at the mall, Jesus comes back and all hell gets raised.

Though most Christians who adhere to Rapture theology believe that Jesus’ Rapture happens in a twinkling of an eye, Left Behind ’s Rapture happens much more slowly, sometimes in slow motion. I swear, Jesus came back for at least 15 minutes, rapturing to Heaven the world’s born again population (most of which were Americans living in the New York City region) and every child 12 and under. Jesus made a huge mess, too, leaving piles of lifeless articles of clothing everywhere.

Chloe happened to be hugging her little brother when Jesus snatched him up out of her arms, leaving her all alone embracing his empty shirt, pants, underwear, and hat. The effects of the Rapture seemed to go on for forever, and the damage was ungodly: plane crashes, car crashes, bus crashes, and looting—my God, there’s lots of people looting in Left Behind . Poor Chloe seems to be present for every calamity. No, she really is; she dives away from cars, outruns planes, ducks away from falling buses. Her backpack is even stolen by somebody riding along on a motorcycle. Honestly, it was like Jesus’ return, in addition to being a rescue operation of Christians and kids, was also a personal vendetta against poor Chloe.

After the Rapture scene, Left Behind ’s message changed instantly from Christians are nut jobs to Oops, those nut jobs were right . In the same convoluted, unbelievable ways that the first message was delivered, the second message gets beaten over our heads for Left Behind’s remaining 70 minutes—with stereotypical conversations, nonsensical events, and stereotypical characterization. And just when you think it can’t get any worse, the Muslim on the plane is assumed to be a terrorist or the selfish middle-aged businessman realizes his love for money has ruined him and he finds God or Jordin Sparks goes berserk and pulls out a handgun from her carry-on bag and threatens to kill everybody on the plane.

Heck, by the end, even Nicolas Cage is a diehard believer in the theologies of Left Behind and ready to turn his life over to Jesus. And Buck and Chloe? Well, by all accounts, they are in love. But not before Chloe climbs to the top of the highest bridge in NYC in preparation of killing herself. After raising her hands to the sky and crying out to her mother for forgiveness, and right before Chloe leaps, her cellphone rings. It’s Buck who’s on a plane getting ready crash-land into NYC.

Cue Nicolas Cage landing a plane.

Ultimately, just like all of those empty articles of clothing left behind by Jesus’ return, Left Behind is a lifeless film, void of anything remotely human, God-like, or authentic, just a terrible Christian movie starring Nicolas Cage.

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'Left Behind' movie review: 'Nowhere near a Christian movie,' not enough Gospel

Reviews for the apocalyptic rapture movie starring Nicolas Cage swept across the online world shortly after its release.  Something worth mentioning is the fact that although 70 percent of the 10,000 people who saw the movie in the big screen thought "Left Behind" was a good watch, critics here and there think the film "failed miserably" with its "many faults" and "poor acting."

The plot surrounds the mystery of millions of people disappearing in a phenomenon called the Rapture. The survivors of the event, other than the pilot Rayford Steele, played by Cage, were Nicky Whelan (Hattie Durham), Chad Michael Murray (Buck Williams), and Cassi Thomson (Chloe Steele).  Cage revealed in previous interviews that he did the movie after his pastor brother's advice.

The producer and writer of the film, Paul Lalonde told TheBlaze on Oct. 8 that the audience's support was overwhelming while noting that he was aware of others' not-so-positive take.

"The negative reviews from the Christian audience tend to be [that] it's not exactly like the book and there's not enough gospel in it," he said.

Lalonde admits to having difficulty in keeping a biblical plot on a secular film. "Left Behind" is a reboot from the 2000 film of the same name, which adapted what critics described as "bleak" books written by Jeffrey B. Jenkins and Tim LaHaye. Christianity Today reviewer Jack Cuidon concluded in his review that the film (though coming from biblical books) was in fact "nowhere near a Christian movie."

Yahoo! Reviewer seconds this by saying that the "theological backstory and exposition is missing," and that the "the actual explanation for the Rapture is rather thin and unsatisfactory."

On the production side, Yahoo! adds that the rapture event came too abrupt while Dr. Ted Baehr, the founder of MovideGuide.org, thought the filmmaking was rather "lazy." However, he added that the critics simply mean to be "vicious" in assessing the movie.

"They're waiting for a Christian movie to rip to shreds and [Left Behind] was the perfect fodder," he said.

Chris Stone, founder of Faith Driven Consumer, on the other hand, said that the film leads to the right direction.

"It's on par with movies of a similar budget and scope, however, in the growing market for faith based entertainment products, it is better than average," Stone said.

The reboot film shakes off all the negativity with its earnings that reached $6.3 million from its North America release alone.

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'Left Behind' or lost in space?

Nicolas Cage in "Left Behind" (CNS/Courtesy Stoney Lake Entertainment/Teddy Smith)

Rose Pacatte

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Follow on Twitter at @srrosemovies

Barbara Murphy

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The remake of the 2000 film "Left Behind" is based on the first of 12 best-selling novels by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins. This new film is a watered-down and somewhat changed version of the earlier movie with a bigger budget and not much else. There is barely enough undercooked scriptural theology to critique in the vacuous writing and painful acting. However, it offers an opportunity to explore dispensationalism, a popular way of interpreting the Book of Revelation, an idea that never comes close to Catholic Christian teaching. I wrote about it recently in my review of "The Identical."

Kirk Cameron headlined the original 2000 film as Buck Williams, a journalist who witnesses the sudden, mysterious disappearance of people midflight and tries to get to the bottom of what has happened to all the lost people. The film teaches us all the way through that the end times are coming, heralded by the disappearance of the just and the beginning of seven years of turbulence for those "left behind": Drought, famine, war, pestilence -- you name it -- are on the way. Here, Nicolas Cage is the philandering pilot Rayford Steele, and Chad Michael Murray is the journalist Buck Williams. I suppose these new actors were cast to attract viewers -- there is a hint of romance between Chloe (Cassi Thomson) and Buck -- but why anyone would want to remake this film remains a mystery to me.

Wife and mother Irene Steele (Lea Thompson) has recently become an end-times Christian. Bibles and crosses are all over her well-appointed house. Her daughter, Chloe, comes home from college to surprise Rayford for his birthday. They meet at the airport, and Chloe notices him flirting with a flight attendant. When they speak, though, it is about Irene and her sudden religious fervor that they feel is annoying and a little weird. Her beliefs have not helped their faith grow.

When Ray's flight is halfway across the Atlantic, there's a jolt, and about half the people disappear, or are snatched, from their seats on the plane. The rapture has happened. Ray discovers that people are disappearing all over the world and in other airplanes in their flight path. Buck starts taking pictures and interviewing people.

One woman who self-medicates says she knows what's happening. "It's in the Bible." A calm Muslim man, Hassid (Alec Rayme), suggests everyone pray to God. Melvin (Martin Klebba) is a little person and his own man. He refuses help with his luggage and argues with Hassid about whose God they will be praying to. Melvin's attitude, along with the person who tries to defend himself with an electric toothbrush from some perceived fear that the plane has been invaded by aliens, provides some comic relief.

If you are afraid of flying, this is a film you will want to avoid. Almost everything happens at the airport, trying to get to the airport, in the air, or trying to get out of the air. Chloe saves the day all by herself. She steals a motorbike, a pickup truck, and then drives a big asphalt roller to clear a highway under construction for the plane to land.

Needless to say, everything that Mom told Chloe and Ray is coming true. They can now believe that they are entering the end times that will destroy people and Earth in seven years so that a new heaven and new Earth will emerge. Yet they are to remember that God loves them: The Gospel citation John 3:16 shows up on the face of the co-pilot's watch that was left behind.

The film is about the rapture (which means "snatched") but never uses the term. In fact, I am not even sure they say the name of Jesus, never mind God the Father and God the Holy Spirit.

To give the film a compliment, even though white people are in charge and got all the lead roles, the supporting cast members are culturally diverse. Women are the heroes. In presenting Hassid as a good person, the filmmakers avoid demonizing a Muslim, a huge un-Christian mistake made by the producers of "God Is Not Dead," a Christian apologist film that came out earlier this year. Green Mountain Coffee and Starbucks also have leading roles, and I wonder about the link between coffee and the end times. Does it mean there won't be any after the rapture? Interesting thought.

The original book and both movies are thinly veiled fictional narratives that teach an odd theological concept: dispensationalism. This is a fundamentalist Christian belief with an eschatological worldview. It emerged in the early 19th century from a small Protestant Christian sect in England called The Plymouth Brethren and spread throughout the United States in popular and religious culture. It is not a Catholic Christian teaching or understanding of the Scriptures. But because the concept is derived from the Book of Revelation, it provides much fodder for engaging the visual imagination and engendering fear.

I asked Barbara Murphy, a former RCIA director with a master's degree in theology, to write about dispensationalism for this review. I know many Catholics who have read all the Left Behind books and seen the films and believe that they convey Catholic teaching. This is not so.

The first indication that dispensationalism is not Catholic is its dependence almost exclusively on the Book of Revelation as the framework for its vision of the final judgment. The Catholic church turns to Jesus in the Gospels, the letters of Paul and the church, the prophets, and the wisdom of the ecumenical councils to describe mystery beyond our conception.

The premillennial worldview proposed by dispensationalism makes the claim that before Christ's thousand-year reign, there will be the rapture, when the holy ones will be snatched or caught up in the air while those left behind suffer God's wrath. The church is amillennial. She sees the unfolding of revelation taking place in the world while at the same time we wait in expectation. "The Lord will come like a thief in the night" (1 Thessalonians 5:2-4). Jesus tells us that if we are prepared in faith, we won't be found wanting like the lazy servant (Luke 12:45-46).

Eschatological or fundamentalist evangelical Christians who share this worldview believe they are charged with ushering in the second coming and final judgment and make themselves instruments of Armageddon. The Catholic church teaches that no one but the Father knows the day and the hour (Matthew 24:36). We are not asked to intervene in order to bring the battle on, but to live a life of faith and trust in Jesus Christ.

Dispensationalism finds its justification in numbers. It counts time and breaks it into epochs or dispensations. Time is literal and subject to human calculation. For Catholics, God flows through the Scriptural numbers. They stand for the passage of kingdoms and empires, of suffering and wonder, not fixed in linear time. The church's understanding of the transcendent nature of revelation asks us, whose time are we counting?

Dispensationalism sees the thousand-year reign of Christ as an earthly reality. The church teaches that the greatest deception of the antichrist is the claim that the messianic promise is realized in history. Rather, it is realized beyond history. Jesus consistently rejected the human understanding of his messianic role.

Dispensationalism envisions the new heaven and new Earth as the earthly city of Jerusalem. The church understands that reality changes when heaven and Earth are one. As we will be changed at our resurrection, so too will the world. The Book of Revelation speaks of God walking with us in the city as he did in the garden (Revelation 21:3). In the final resurrection, we return to God no longer children, but adults who know about good and evil and have chosen the better part.

Dispensationalism concerns itself with the physical reality of the revelation John received at Patmos. The Catholic church sees beyond the prophetic experience into the life of Jesus. It is there where we are lifted up to be with him in spirit and in truth.

In the rush to flood the movie market with lucrative "Christian" faith and family-friendly films, filmmakers really need to up their game and create art with good writing, compelling stories, and brilliant actors. These kinds of film are spiritual pablum that are derivative and comfort the comfortable. Informed Catholics will not find much that resonates in "Left Behind." And one would hope that despite the $6.3 million this film made on opening weekend, audiences would be more demanding of the movies for which they are willing to spend $10 to $12 per ticket. If you find yourself lost after watching "Left Behind" know you are not alone.

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A movie about the rapture starring Nicolas Cage should be wackier than “Left Behind.” It should have more smoldering panic bursting into full-blown freak-outs. It should have more passion, more intensity. It should have more bees.

Yes, Cage’s howl-inducing remake of ‘The Wicker Man” from 2006 actually feels like a legitimately good time compared to this dull groaner about the end times. It’s a remake too: a version of “Left Behind” starring Kirk Cameron quickly came and went from theaters in 2001, followed by a couple of straight-to-DVD sequels. All are based on the apocalyptic novels by Jerry B. Jenkins and Tim LaHaye.

Christian readers and audiences are the base here, but it’s hard to imagine that this incarnation of the story will persuade anyone else to find the Lord unless they’re sitting in the theater praying for the dialogue or special effects to improve. This is essentially an “ Airport ” movie with an Evangelical spin, but it lacks the self-awareness to turn such a wild concept into a guilty pleasure.

Director Vic Armstrong , a longtime stuntman making only his second feature (and his first in a couple of decades), had a larger budget than the original's, and a more established star in the lead. None of that shows up on screen. The "big" set pieces look small and chintzy, the lighting is hard and flat, and the pacing is a monotonous back-and-forth between an airplane in the skies across the Atlantic and the chaos on the ground below.

But the more serious disappointment comes from Cage’s performance. As the awesomely named Rayford Steele, a philandering airline pilot who sees the light as the end is nigh, Cage needed to bring the wild-eyed, full-bore crazy. This has been his bread and butter of late, and it’s been a thoroughly enjoyable career shift. Instead, he’s oddly inert as the movie's voice of reason. Looking distractingly rubbery with a helmet of fake, dark hair, he seems to have been Photoshopped into the film. His presence is so strangely awkward and unconvincing.

Then again, the script from Paul Lalonde (who also produced the original “Left Behind” movies) and John Patus doesn’t exactly give him or the rest of the cast much to work with. It’s full of flat character types and blandly expository dialogue.  At the film’s start, Rayford’s daughter, Chloe (the perky Cassi Thomson), has come home from college for the weekend for her dad’s birthday. But Rayford got a last-minute assignment to fly from New York to London overnight, which will keep him away all that time. At least that’s what he told his wife Irene ( Lea Thompson ), who’s no fun anymore now that she’s found Jesus and is urging everyone around her to do the same. (The camera lingers as Irene tosses her gardening gloves on top of her ever-present Bible.) His real plan is to seduce a hot, blonde flight attendant ( Nicky Whelan ) over the weekend, beginning with prime tickets to see U2.

This is actually a vaguely intriguing premise: What happens to a marriage when one spouse undergoes a religious conversion and the other does not? It seems similar to what happens when one spouse gets sober and the other keeps drinking. What sort of wedge does this create? How does the family survive? But these aren’t the questions “Left Behind” cares to ponder. Armageddon is on the horizon.

Anyway, Chloe and her dad have a brief, stilted conversation in the airport waiting area between her arrival and his departure. Being the skeptic that she is, she also has a confrontation about religion with a woman who’s just bought a book about God at the bookstore. Chloe also finds time for a long chat with hunky, hotshot TV news correspondent Buck Williams, who happens to be a passenger on Rayford’s flight to London. ( Chad Michael Murray takes over the role Cameron played in the original. I’d say that’s an improvement.) There's a lot of sitting around and talking in “Left Behind.”

But then! Out of nowhere, God starts calling the pure of heart to heaven: children, mostly, but also people who have the words BIBLE STUDY written in their calendars in big capital letters. At first, no one realizes this is God’s doing. People just disappear, leaving their clothes and belongings in a pile where they once stood, including Chloe’s little brother and (of course) her mom.

Pandemonium ensues as millions go missing worldwide–or at least, implied pandemonium. This includes a school bus driving off an overpass and a small plane crashing into a shopping mall parking lot. There is zero finesse to these supposedly dramatic images. Mostly, Armstrong gives us a lot of people running around, flailing their hands in the air.

Meanwhile, up in the sky, folks start disappearing, too–including a flight attendant and Rayford’s second-in-command. (Guess this means God really is his co-pilot.) The barely sketched-out passengers in first class start panicking and bickering, including a Texas businessman, an Asian conspiracy theorist and a drugged-up heiress. Former “American Idol” winner Jordin Sparks fares poorly as a paranoid, unstable mom who somehow smuggled a handgun on the plane. Worst of all is the consistent yammering between a kindly Muslim and a surly little person. The movie cuts to them repeatedly for comic relief, but it’s painfully unfunny every time.

“Left Behind” finally edges toward an enjoyable level of insanity as it reaches its conclusion. I wouldn’t dream of giving away the details–mysterious ways, and all–but I will say that it involves the petite Chloe driving a steamroller in the dead of night on a deserted stretch of highway that’s under construction.

Still, for a movie that spells everything out, it’s unclear why God chose this particular moment to inflict his wrath upon the masses. Was it because Rayford tried to forsake his wedding vows with a flirty flight attendant at a U2 show? Still, if you’re a true believer, it’s a beautiful day.

Christy Lemire

Christy Lemire is a longtime film critic who has written for RogerEbert.com since 2013. Before that, she was the film critic for The Associated Press for nearly 15 years and co-hosted the public television series "Ebert Presents At the Movies" opposite Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, with Roger Ebert serving as managing editor. Read her answers to our Movie Love Questionnaire here .

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Film Credits

Left Behind (2014)

Rated PG-13

105 minutes

Nicolas Cage as Rayford Steele

Lea Thompson as Irene Steele

Chad Michael Murray as Buck Williams

Nicky Whelan as Hattie Durham

Jordin Sparks as Shasta Carvell

Martin Klebba as Melvin Weir

Cassi Thompson as Chloe Steele

• Vic Armstrong
• Paul Lalonde

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