LEAVE THE WORLD BEHIND (2023)

LEAVE THE WORLD BEHIND (2023)

Tagline: There's No Going Back to Normal

(Drama, Thriller, We Depend Way Too Much On Technology) [R]

The quiet is so noisy. That’s one of the first things I noticed when we started spending nights here. Found it hard to sleep. Not like at home when you hear everything…sirens, traffic, people. 

In this one, Amanda and Clay rent a really nice secluded house with their two kids Archie and Rose. It doesn’t take long before they figure out the phones are out and that there has been some sort of cyber-attack. Meanwhile, a father and daughter show up in the middle of their first night there, saying they own the house. The father G.H. Scott seems to know something about the situation he’s not sharing. 

First off, if you ever want to see lots of deer, this is a perfect movie for that. There are lots and lots of deer in this movie. I am always interested in sci-fi end-of-the-world type stuff, but this one caught my eye mainly because of Julia Roberts and Mahershala Ali. The previews also made it seem like it was going to be more of an action flick than it ended up being. 

Acting-wise Julia Roberts (MYSTIC PIZZA) plays Amanda and comes across as not really even wanting to be on set. I am sure she was asked to play the character this way, but it’s either bad acting or bad writing. I really can’t tell which. Conversely, this is a solid outing for Ethan Hawke (DAYBREAKERS) as Clay. This is a pretty rough effort from Myha'la (DUMB MONEY) who plays Ruth. Maybe she is better in other things, but a lot like Julia’s effort, she seems to be mailing this performance in. Farrah Mackenzie (PLEASE STAND BY) is okay as Rose. Mahershala Ali (ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL) is good, but this isn’t his best outing. They really didn’t challenge him much here. I do have to hand some of the blame to the writing because there is a lot of empty dialog in this thing.

There are some oddities and unnecessary elements in here that I am not going to get into, but it comes across as cheap and pretentious. There are too many lulls to keep it interesting which drives entire sequences to the outskirts of boredom. Other sequences are pretty cringe. I am sure there is some sort of message or warning here, but the general idea I got was that we depend far too much on technology and that your conspiracy neighbor friend buying all the cans of food and water is probably completely sane and on the right track. Oh, and if the world is actually ending, no matter what kind of electric car you have, how much plastic you recycled, how much taxes you forked over for a green earth if mad men decided to use the weapons we’ve built to destroy each other, we are pretty screwed on a mortal level. The film also highlights some of our weaknesses as a nation including divisiveness, selfishness, the shredded fabric of society, and all the fun stuff that you put in your movie if you want to make a total downer of a film. 

The soundtrack is a bit off in this. All the songs are great, but it seems like they really don’t fit anywhere in this film. The score however is pretty good and we do get some decent cinematography. Directorially this is a pretty good outing for Sam Esmail. Overall, this kind of comes as a cross between THE HAPPENING and some sort of Dollar Store, KNOCK AT THE CABIN. 

Fair warning, this movie kind of ends at what should have been the beginning. It’s a 2-hour and 18-minute waste of your time. LEAVE THE WORLD BEHIND gets a 2 out of 7. Not sure how they spent over 2 hours giving us a movie that isn’t even a complete film. 

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