Left Behind (2014)

Left Behind is a 2014 American apocalyptic thriller film directed by Vic Armstrong and written by Paul LaLonde and John Patus. The film stars Nicolas Cage, Chad Michael Murray, Cassi Thomson, Nicky Whelan, Lea Thompson, and Jordin Sparks. The film is based on a novel by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins. The film was directed by Vic Armstrong. The film is a loose remake of the 2000 film, Left Behind: The Movie by Kirk Cameron. Despite it being a remake of the original, this version has major changes than the original version.

Plot
Airline pilot Rayford Steele finds out that something apocalyptic is going to happen as he goes to work. It gets more awkward from there.

Why It Should Be Left Behind

 * 1) The subject matter of the end of the world is dumb and cliché ridden. Not only that, but the religious themes of the film are highly offensive and ham-fisted. It's like almost like a Westboro-Christian propaganda film in which only the elected people, the pure righteous, and the children are going to Heaven while everyone else will be forced to suffer God's wrath.
 * 2) * Speaking of which, one character who gets left behind on the plane is a Muslim, which can be insulting to people who worship Islam, which it's considered Islamophobia.
 * 3) It isn't scary, and it lacks suspense and drama.
 * 4) Awful acting, especially from Nicolas Cage.
 * 5) The characters range from stupid to hateful.
 * 6) A bunch of scenes jump back and forth and are distracting.
 * 7) Product placement (including Chick-Fil-A).
 * 8) Bad CGI editing.
 * 9) While Nicolas Cage's character gets a fair amount of screen time, the film mainly focuses on Chloe, Buck, the passengers, and no one else in the film.

Reception
Left Behind was panned by critics and audiences. The film currently holds a 0% on Rotten Tomatoes with an average of 2.1 out of 10 and a critic consensus that reads "Yea verily, like unto a plague of locusts, Left Behind hath begat a further source of devastation upon Nicolas Cage's once-proud filmography." Gary Goldman of The Los Angeles Times described the film as "A shoo-in to clean up at the next Razzie Awards." Bilge Ebiri of New York Magazine/Vulture stated in his review "Left Behind is biblical in its silliness." Christy Lemire of RogerEbert.com awarded the film a one star out of four and stated in her review "It should have more smoldering panic bursting into full-blown freak-outs. It should have more passion, more intensity. It should have more bees." Amy Nicholson of L.A. Weekly stated "It believes people might buy a ticket to Left Behind and not know the twist, like someone sitting down to watch Godzilla and being shocked by the entrance of a giant lizard."

Chris Stuckmann gave the film an F. Stuckmann later ranked the film at #1 in his Top 10 Worst Movies of 2014 list.

Box Office
The film opened at #6 on its opening weekend with a domestic gross of $6,300,147. Its total domestic gross was $14,019,924. In foreign box offices, it made $5,663,000. Overall, Left Behind made $19,682,924 against its $16 million budget. The film was a box office disaster.

Awards and nominations
Left Behind was nominated for three Golden Raspberry Awards including Worst Picture, Worst Actor, and Worst Screenplay, but lost the Awards to Saving Christmas, which coincidentally starred Kirk Cameron, who was in the original Left Behind film.

Videos
GrXe8YDbzYs _HCo6bPO0Mc wnBXzVg39Zc q50znDoewrY 6eatFh04W4c C954sx2RiLw yYoKoLBSSdo oi3Udi760fY au90QF4Oslo n8RQORm8qXw YQlN148Gu90 nCEElDrPHlg I7pqcg9hIi0 hFOlnEJkBGU

Trivia

 * There were plans to make two sequels for the film. Fortunately, the plans were cancelled due to little funding for the projects as a result of the first film getting panned by critics and due to the poor box office returns.