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Part conspiracy theory and part religious message,
Left Behind (based on the first in a series of runaway bestsellers by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins) is a passable, occasionally compelling thriller that turns the rapture and the ascendance of the Antichrist into something resembling a Robert Ludlum espionage potboiler. The beginning, though, is pure Stephen King: as morose pilot Rayford Steele (Brad Johnson) steers his jet plane toward London, comely flight attendant Hattie Daniels (Chelsea Noble) informs him that a number of passengers have disappeared--at 37,000 feet, leaving their neatly pressed clothes behind. And they're not the only ones who've gone missing. The mass disappearances throw the world into chaos, and the sinisterly compelling Nicolae Carpathia (Gordon Currie), head of the U.N., selflessly steps in to help broker peace among the world's nations. But is he as good intentioned as he seems?
Turns out the appropriately named Mr. Carpathia is behind a plot to rule the world and control its food supply, and intrepid reporter Buck Williams (Kirk Cameron, better than you'd expect) is onto him--with a little help from some biblical prophecies. Suffering the problem that befalls most first installments in a series of books and movies, Left Behind busies itself with the task of introducing characters and setting up expository plot lines, and audiences may be frustrated by the lack of action--Rayford's somewhat labored crisis of faith takes up a good chunk of the film. Still, it's an intriguing premise that should satisfy fans of the novel and possibly pick up a few more converts along the way (be warned, though, this is a modestly budgeted film that looks more like a cable TV movie than the latest James Bond extravaganza). And, if like a fair number of the film's characters, you can't figure out that someone named "Nicolae Carpathia" is a bad guy, then, well, you need to bone up on your evil villains. --Mark Englehart
If the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word "Rapture" is Blondie, then start stocking up on food and water. This movie, based on the first book in a best-selling series of fundamentalist-Christian novels, takes the events of the Book of Revelation and transposes them to modern times. The result looks and plays out like an after-school special about the Apocalypse. Kirk Cameron is Buck Williams, an intrepid reporter for GNN who "would have reported on Hiroshima from ground zero if he'd been there." Millions of people all over the world have vanished, and those "left behind" can't quite figure out why. Buck investigates various angles-radiation, alien interference-and the movie documents his lengthy procession toward belief. Read your Bible carefully. A global currency, the ascendancy of the U.N., the telling detail that the Antichrist will have a Russian accent-it's all there. -Michael Agger
Copyright © 2006
The New Yorker
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