Left Behind

This film is so banal it takes the banality out of The Banal. The premise is absurd. The unravelling of the plot is absurd. The performances are, at best, distracted as is the direction. Even the actors seem unconvinced. I'm still kicking myself for watching this film. Sin and purity are depicted with juvenile simplicity. Religious bias is arrogantly displayed (but I'll leave that to the unfortunate viewer to spot). Complex ideas like forgiveness, atonement and judgement are reduced to idiocy at an atomic level. I apologise if this sounds too much like a rant but for someone who watches well over 15 films a week, I have never subjected myself to anything this offensive (to the senses) in over 25 years.

Let me first say that I am a Christian. I watch campy Christian movies solely for the sake to have some wholesome entertainment. I clearly remember the impact of reading the Left Behind book almost 16 years ago as a boy in middle school. Few other books have had such a profound impact on my life so I hold the entire series close to heart.

However, I share all this to say that this movie is nothing but a hot mess. Here's a short list of sins. 1.) A soundtrack that sounds like bad elevator music 2.) Maybe it was just my theater but the dialogue was also difficult to hear 3.) Casually calm characters on the airplane after one of the most horrifying events known to mankind has just occurred 4.) Out of place comedic relief and 5.) So-so acting.

To be fair though, there were some improvements from the original movie. The rapture scene was markedly improved and actually made me gasp because it truly occurs unexpectedly. The action shots were also much better and the acting was improved but for the star power involved was rather weak. Many of the airplane scenes felt overly contrived with stilted acting.

The movie doesn't necessarily follow the plot of the Left Behind book as it's merely inspired by it but it doesn't matter with all the aforementioned problems. There's also a lot less preaching in this film than the original but frankly could have used more as to convey some message of inspiration.

If you're a fan of the Left Behind series I wouldn't say completely disregard this film but please don't have high expectations that this movie will deliver and improve on the original. I've waited 16 years for a movie to convey the fear, excitement, and triumph that enthralled me when I was an 11 year old boy staying up to the wee hours of the morning trying to read just one more page of the book. After watching this movie, it looks like I'll have to wait for another remake.

This was the worst movie I have ever seen. It is clearly destined to go straight to day time television. From the start the movies direction, plot, acting and music all give the impression of a day time drama but much much worse.

I don't hate the premise of the movie, it's just like any other sci-fi fiction. However, this movie with it's bad acting and direction make it a complete and utter flop. Too much emphasis is placed on the religious aspects of this story making it feel like a veritable propaganda flick, ruining all chances of immersing in the story-line.

Do not waste your money on such a poorly produced movie. Religious or not, you will walk out of the theatre with nothing but regrets.

Its about a bizarre disappearance of millions of people.

Oh no, wait, it's about Nicolas Cage landing a plane.

Meh.

**Spoilers**

Now obviously everyone has reviewed this saying how terrible it is. So I thought I would start picking holes in the aviation side of things. In no particular order (and ones i can remember)

1. Captain leaving the flight deck without really talking to the F/O, no handover of control.

2. Captain returns to the flight deck using emergency flight deck access code. This does not unlock the door immediately.

3. Why is the aircraft in an unusual attitude? At that altitude the aircraft would be on autopilot, not manual flight. So without either pilot on the flightdeck it would continue straight and level and the current speed until the fuel ran out.

4. Non-Standard unusual attitude recovery (disregarding the fact it wouldn't get into one)

5. TCAS with the other aircraft. Capt failed to follow the TCAS resolution advisory which would have guaranteed minimum separation between the 2 aircraft.

6. With that substitutional damage on the aircraft wing there would be an incredible amount of airframe vibration.

7. wing was damaged, why does he lose elevator control?

8. At point of divert JFK would not be the best airport to divert too. The great circle route between JFK and London would take you up the coast of Canada then passing just south of greenland. Most likely airport which could take an aircraft at that size would likely be Gander or similar.

9. Changing aircraft type throughout the film.

10. A lot of none-standard Radio Transmissions 10.1 using names on RT 10.2 Maydays are initiated by saying mayday 3 times 10.3 after declaring a mayday your normal callsign is preceded by mayday 10.4 all radio communication involves your callsign to identify who is talking and who you are talking too. 10.5 all attempts to contact were on VHF radio, no attempt made on HF? 10.6 while trying to make mayday he was selected on 121.9 (not a standard oceanic frequency) and while changing the dial he never actually made it active frequency so was always transmitting on 121.9 10.7 if you failed to contact anyone on a atc frequency a pilot would likely try 121.5 (guard) or 123.45 (aircraft to aircraft)

11. Failure of flight controls would make the autopilot unusable. However he seems to continue using it (though seemingly from other parts of the film there is no continuity regarding the autopilot)

12. Fuel situation, at the start of the flight the Capt says it will be a 6.5 hour flight, taking into account reserves and alternate fuel it is likely to be a conservative fuel for about 8.5-9 hours. However, he has a major fuel leak at the 3 hour mark which would probably cost him more than any reserves he had yet they somehow manage to fly 3 hours return back to JFK.

13. Sat phone problem (not strictly aviation but bear with me). Continually failing to contact on sat phone is a problem, but there is another service provided by Stockholm radio (HF, so would work in the middle of the Atlantic) which allows you to call a any phone in the world.

14. Ups the cabin altitude to force people to put on masks, this is possible but wouldn't happen as quickly as shown.

15.claims to be flying a 400 tonne aircraft. seems very heavy for aircraft shown in the film. (for reference, Max Takeof weights for A330: 242 tonnes: B757 255 tonnes: B777: 380 tonnes)

16. landing a "400 tonne" aircraft without flaps, spoilers, etc. is not possible, would be looking at at least 2-3miles minimum

17. Wing magically repairs itself

18. with no engines you would have no hydraulic pressure, would have to be a manual gear extension which he didn't do

19. wouldn't be able to lift the wing again once on the ground. it wouldn't provide enough lifting moment

20. evacuating the pane. as soon the door opened the slide would inflate. wouldn't have to push it out afterwards.

21. aircraft evacuation slides are very hard and don't give you any bounce as demonstrated when the guy was kicked off the plane.

22. very low quota of cabin crew for the size of the aircraft. rule is 1 per 50 passengers minimum.

23. when evacuation is undertaken, general rule is get away from the aircraft. not mill about near the burning wreckage.

Overall this film was terrible. I am sure i missed a few holes in the aviation side too but this made it slightly more amusing for me while watching.

Source of knowledge about the holes in the aviation parts, I am a commercial Pilot.