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Left Behind - The Movie

Left Behind - The Movie

List Price: $19.95
Your Price: $15.96
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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Close but no cigar.
Review: The acting is an improvement over many Christian films made to date; and the filmmaking is an improvement over ANY Christian films, but it's still got a ways to go. The special effects look clearly computer generated. The film's big downfall is the script, which is pitiful. The writing leans toward apocalyptic soap opera, and its vision for the end of the world seems apallingly trite--to the point of being silly. That's unfortunate for the actors, who give a commendable effort.

Now, I don't want to be too hard on Jenkins & Co.; but trust me, they're busy right now rolling on the floor, laughing out loud in enormous piles of money from their books, so they won't hear me anyway. The film succeeds where the books fail miserably: it's short. The series of books would have been fine as a series of comic books, because the characters have as much depth as ink on paper, but Jenkins added more filler than you can find in laundry soap just to turn the storyline into a series of novels. One can only hope, based on what happened with the novels, that the Left Behind movie is not going to drag out into interminable sequels. Like Freddie Krueger, the books just wouldn't die. I'm praying the sequels will end before the world does.

I suggest the book END-TIME PROPHECIES OF THE BIBLE if you want a more realistic unfolding of biblical prophecies related to the end of this age.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Superstitious Theology
Review: Rapture and Tribulation theology came into vogue in the 19th century, the product of a few select passages of ancient scripture, mostly metaphorical, taken out of their ancient context and pieced together in such a way that the self-righteous can believe they're better than everybody else. This theology is at the heart of the movie Left Behind. It is anachronism at its most sinister, and I'm one of the majority of Christians who just don't believe it.

Jesus, the focus of Christianity, is barely mentioned in Left Behind, and when he is, there is no mention of who he was or of anything he ever said or did. His name is invoked as the one "to believe in," but what is made most clear in this movie is the authors' conviction that every word in the Bible is literally factual, and that those who don't believe this are condemned by God. Scholars today call this "bibliolatry" -- the worshipping of the Bible as the literal words of God.

But the Bible was written over a period of thousands of years by hundreds of different human beings. It is not a history book, and it is not a rulebook. It is the epic story of monotheism. It contains much that is true, that is, truths about life as seen through the eyes of those inspired by God throughout the past few millennia. Whether this or that passage is journalistically factual is irrelevant.

Many, many of its stories (including most of the passages quoted in this movie) are apocalyptic -- a type of metaphorical literature that flourished in the Middle East two to three thousand years ago, but that Western culture does not have the mindset to understand. Apocalyptic literature does not predict the future; it was a style of writing meant to give hope to an oppressed culture.

Never mind the neat special effects, the twists of plot, and all the other things our present-day Western culture enjoys in a good movie. The backbone of this project was broken to begin with.

As Madeleine L'Engle once said, "I take the Bible far too seriously to take it literally." A literal reading of the Bible produces an image of God as a vengeful, angry, immature, temper-tantrum-throwing creator who can't wait to punish those who have broken his black-and-white rules. I, for one, just can't believe that. I believe, rather, what Jesus said time and time again about getting your priorities straight. Love is the way of the universe -- and what is love? Letting go of fear and doing good for others in this wonderful universe God has created. The universe will be here long after the human race is gone, and it's still all good. Praise God!

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Terrible version of a very good book
Review: Reading these reviews, I thought I had seen a totally different movie. How anyone could rate this 3 stars (let alone 5!) is beyond me.

I had already read all of the "Left Behind: The Kids" books and just finished "Apollyon" when I got my hands on this movie. The books, while not perfect or with writing at the highest level, are very good and inspiring. I had never heard of the Rapture before reading them and they challenged me to go to my Bible and decide whether I believed in it or not. (I do now, incase you were wondering.) But this movie does not challenge, inspire, or even blatantly explain! I could not see myself watching this past the first few minutes if I hadn't read the books because I wouldn't have understood any of it! It takes over an HOUR to get to explaining what is going on, and it doesn't even explain it all that well! Basically, all you get is a "Well, we already knew that all this was gonna happen 'cause of something in the Bible so you'd be pretty stupid not to believe it." The books give you chapter and verse of proof and the characters actually have to struggle to believe, not just go "Okay, I'm gonna go follow Jesus now." I don't get how that is supposed to convince people.

But even if you could get passed all that, the movie is just so different from the book that there's nothing else to enjoy. There's no real plot here besides people vanishing. Any action in the book takes place near the VERY end, and it is all rather boring. My favorite character is Chloe, a girl who relies on her intellence and needs proof before she jumps into something. The Chloe in the book is a strong character who just missed what religion is really about. The Chloe in the movie.... well basically she spends the whole movie crying and then (off-camera I guess 'cause I missed it otherwise) jumps right in to religion. I could identify with the book-Chloe but the movie-Chloe has no personality! That also goes for the rest of them! Rayford shows no guilt because of his affair, Buck is decent while reporting but has no personality otherwise, Chaim is TOTALLY different from what I was picturing, and Bruce just seems... well, fake. And Buck and Chloe's relationship consists of her finding him sleeping on her couch and then they fall in love. Yeah, right. Carpathia looks like he just graduated from college and doesn't have any of his charm that's supposed to make people like him. Does he really need to wave his hands in the air to brainwash people? That's so cheesy!

This movie is horrible at both entertaining and preaching. Stick with the books. Atleast then, if you don't believe in the Rapture, there's actual storylines to get interested in.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A film of epic proportions A must see Movie ASAP
Review: first and foremost I must rebuke my friend from Alabama who wrote a review on the 3rd of February for stating that "Left Behind" is a terrible film that should be avoided like the plague by the way you misspelled plague you said plaque duh anyway all although films like Thief in the night, Distant thunder and prodigal planet are classics i can sincerely say that "Left Behind" is as equally riveting. And by the way to my friend Alabama how can you even associate the word Sci-fi with christian duh there is nothing scientifical nor fictious about being a christian or making christian movies so read your bible and get a life for real for real! peace be with you

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: LEFT BEHIND-THE MOVIE
Review: I THINK THE MOVIE LEFT BEHIND IS WONDERFUL. BEING A NEW CHRISTIAN IT HAS HELPED ME UNDERSTAND A LITTLE MORE ABOUT THE BOOK OF REVELATION. I HAVE ALSO STARTED READING THE BOOK, WHICH IS ALSO GREAT. AFTER I WATCHED THE MOVIE I LET MY MOM BORROW IT AND SHE LOVED IT. SHE EVEN CALLED AROUND TO CHRISTIAN BOOK STORES LOOKING FOR THE OTHER MOVIES ADVERTISED AT THE BEGINNING OF THE MOVIE. IF THIS FILM ONLY HELPS ONE PERSON BECOME A CHRISTIAN IT IS WELL WORTH IT!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great Movie
Review: For those anti-Christian viewers the question you really need to ask your self is, what if the story is true. What will I do then? Remember, when the time does come, there won' be anybody to turn to for help.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Choose for Yourself
Review: I hope that people will not let these reviews influence them and just watch it and choose for themselves. Give it a chance. I think that a lot of reviewers see the word "Christian" and see what the movie is about and don't give it a fair chance. It's not the best movie in the world if you want sound effects and violence. The movie is about the truth and some find it hard to swallow. If you think that the movie is trying to scare you, then maybe you should take a closer look at your life. The Bible is clear and if the movie raises questions in your mind, then you need to read more of it, not blast the movie. If you watch it with an open mind, it's a good movie. If you go into it thinking that it's a Christian movie and not worthy of your time, reevaluate your motives. This is one time where even though I read these reviews, I am glad that I watched the movie anyway and saw for myself that it was worth it. I found that it was better than I thought it would be and really appreciated the fact that it stayed closer to the book than any other movie I've seen.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: What A Waste Of Film!
Review: "Left Behind" may be the single worst waste of celluloid in the history of motion pictures. Presented as "family entertainment," it is nothing but a crude and ham-handed propaganda flick promoting the most egregious absurdities of the fundamentalist right-wing religious fanatics.

"Left Behind" has something for everyone -- false piety for evangelicals; roaring action scenes for teenaged boys; proselytizing thinly disguised as plot; and, of course, Jesus in the starring role (one wonders how big a percentage the Savior's agent got.)

The only thing "Left Behind" is good for is to prop up the leg of a wobbly table. This piece of cinematic garbage will be entertaining only to those sad people whose real lives are so pathetic that they must hope for something better in the next.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great Movie
Review: This is a great movie that presents the Gospel in a subtle and honest way. The truth of the Bible is clearly spoken in a manner that shows Hollywood the potential for a new type of movie.

Kirk Cameron and the rest of the cast did a tremendous job of not only acting, but promoting this movie to America. It is time for family oriented movies like this that present the truth of God to hit the maintstream.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: The point was left behind
Review: I watched "Left Behind" when it came out on video in October, and it probably should have stayed on video rather than try to make a theater debut. As a Christian, I was offended by the final scene of the movie, in which Buck Williams seems to question the validity of the Bible's account of the end times, which may prevent non-Christians who watch this movie from accepting Jesus Christ or the Bible since they too may question the validity of scripture. Also, I thought that the characters seemed to be a little unsure of their salvation through faith in Jesus Christ, and seemed to regret not believing in Him before the rapture.

I also thought the acting was rather poor because the actors didn't do a very convincing job of portraying the characters from the books. Even Kirk Cameron, who brought a natural curiosity to the role of Buck Williams, seemed to not bring much depth to the role other than when he was reporting the news.

Overall, I thought that this was a movie more suitable for the junior high school church youth group or the 5th grade Sunday School class rather than an adult audience, because the film somehow neglected to explain the end times in Revelation on an adult level, and failed to truly make non-Christians think about what might happen if they are "Left Behind."


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