Left Behind (2001)

The Biblical prophecy of Armegeddon begins when the Rapture instantly takes all believers in Christ from the Earth. A reporter left behind learns that the Anti-Christ will soon take power.

Director:

Vic Sarin

Writers:

Alan B. McElroy, Paul Lalonde,

Stars:

Kirk Cameron, Brad Johnson, Janaya Stephens

3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Kirk Cameron	...	Buck Williams
Brad Johnson	...	Rayford Steele
Janaya Stephens	...	Chloe Steele
Clarence Gilyard Jr.	...	Bruce Barnes (as Clarence Gilyard)
Colin Fox	...	Chaim Rosenzweig
Gordon Currie	...	Nicolae Carpathia
Chelsea Noble	...	Hattie Durham
Daniel Pilon	...	Jonathan Stonegal
Tony De Santis	...	Joshua Cothran
Jack Langedijk	...	Dirk Burton
Krista Bridges	...	Ivy Gold
Thomas Hauff	...	Steve Plank
Neil Crone	...	Ken Ritz
Sten Eirik	...	Flattop / Carl
Raven Dauda	...	Gloria

Storyline

Rayford Steele is an airline pilot whose relationship with his wife has gone sour;he ponders having an affair with an attractive flight attendant, Hattie Durham. In the midst of a flight to London, a number of their passengers mysteriously disappear, and chaos takes hold as a number of vehicles on the ground and in the air are suddenly unmanned. Meanwhile, Buck Williams, a television journalist, is pondering the rash of sudden disappearances as he works on a report about Dr. Chaim Rosenzweig, an Israeli scientist who has devised a formula that would make any soil on earth easy to cultivate. However, Buck wonders if there's more to Rosenzweig than he first imagined when he discovers the doctor is in cahoots with two multi-millionaires who plan to broker the invention to promote their own agenda of international domination.

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Plot Keywords:

biblical prophecy | reporter | left behind | disappearance | rapture | 

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Taglines:

From The Runaway Best Selling Novel

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Genres:

Action | Drama | Fantasy | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for violence

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

Canada

Language:

English

Release Date:

4 September 2001 (Spain)

Also Known As:

Left Behind: The Movie

Filming Locations:

Chicago, Illinois, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$4,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$2,158,780 (USA) (2 February 2001)

Gross:

$4,221,341 (USA) (20 April 2001)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Cloud Ten Pictures, Namesake Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

96 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

According to the "Making of..." documentary, Chelsea Noble (Hattie), who is married to Kirk Cameron (Buck), was reading the book in bed. Kirk was asleep, but Chelsea was so excited about the idea of turning this into a movie, she started slapping Kirk on the leg to wake him up, and said, "I want to play the role of Hattie!" Kirk and Chelsea then started farming out the idea to find out who might produce the film.

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Goofs

The rapture supposedly occurred during the night (Rayford's plane was only a few hours from sunrise, and Irene and Raymie were in bed). Although Chloe encountered the accident in daylight, it could well have happened some time before she arrived.

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Quotes

[Chloe discovers Buck asleep on her couch and grabs a vase, thinking he's an intruder]
Chloe Steele: Hold it right there, don't move.
[Sees who it is]
Chloe Steele: Buck Williams? What are you doing in my house?
Buck Williams: Hoping you're not gonna brain me with that vase.

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Crazy Credits

The Producers wish to thank: Karll Goodman (who inadvertently vanished during editing)

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Connections

Referenced in The Simpsons: Thank God It's Doomsday (2005)

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Soundtracks

"Can't Wait for You to Return"
Written and Performed by Fred Hammond

User Reviews

SPOON FEEDING the audience

I am a Christian... and I feel this movie is awful.

Nobody but hard-core, Bible-belt Christians are going to like this movie. The message is just too in your face. If you want to touch a wider audience, you have to be way more subtle. You can't have the dad waving the bible around and carrying it with him in EVERY scene. RIDICULOUS!

Poor direction. The reveal of people missing should have been terrifying, but it was laughable. They leave their clothes on the ground? It reminded me of old Ed Wood movies: "Oh my God! People are missing!" That scene in the plane is just stupid. Think about it: if you found your relative's clothes next to you, you wouldn't just scream "oh my god. they disappeared! they're missing!" and start crying and yelling. You would first be in denial... you just wouldn't jump to that conclusion. Watch Jodie Foster in FLIGHTPLAN. My favorite shot is the dog sitting out on the lawn with a pile of clothes and boots sitting next to him. I about fell off the couch I was laughing so hard.

The music was so bad and so distracting. It was as if the composer was in his own world scoring his own movies. "here's my chance to do a thriller", "here's my chance to do action!" STOP TELLING ME HOW TO FEEL JAMES COVELL! A good score supports what's happening on the screen... this movie needed more of an UNDER score, but instead it was as much in your face as the message was.

The writing was bland. So was Captain Christian Kirk Cameron. Chelsea was the worse: "you don't understand! People are missing!". Brad Johnson was laughable. The two stand out performances came from the Anti-Christ and the older guy (sorry, can't remember their names) In watching the "making of" (to answer my question of "what were they thinking???"), the producers and filmmakers and actors are just deluding themselves... saying "we're gonna reach wide audiences" and "brad Johnson is amazing" and "this is just like a Hollywood movie". I came to the conclusion that they just don't know what the "heck" they are doing.

I commend the effort. Getting the message to a wide audience is a fantastic idea. Film is the best medium possible to do that. Look at movies like WIDE AWAKE, SIGNS, CONTACT, PASSION OF Christ, even O'BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU? The bottom line is that the film needed to be made by people who have talent and vision. Unfortunately, it was not.