The first Left Behind novel was released in 1995 and became an instant bestseller spawning 12 sequels, 3 prequels, an authorized handbook, numerous graphic novels, a computer game and at least three spin-off book series. The books have sold more than 65 million copies worldwide and established "Christian fiction" as a significant category in the publishing world.
As of 1999 the books had sold more than 25 million copies so when a movie adaptation of the first book was announced many people got excited and began thinking that maybe this would be the first Christian movie to break into the Hollywood big-league.
But alas it was never to be. The movie had a limited theatrical release and didn't fare very well, so it wasn't long before it was released on VHS and DVD which by all accounts did much better... well enough at least to spawn two sequels (as of Aug, 2007).
So what about the movie itself? Left Behind The Movie by all standards isn't a bad movie, in fact it's pretty good... for a B movie. And that's where the problems arise; we have a less than par movie with an above par story, let's face it the LB books haven't sold as many as they have by being second rate. For instance the first LB book opens hard and fast with the rapture followed by detailed descriptions of plane's and car's crashing, people dying and confusion and chaos ruling the day. I remember reading the first few pages and being totally blown away; for a Christian book it was as good as any Clancy or Grisham novel.
However, the movie opens with barely a whimper and continues in this fashion for most of the movie hardly worthy of bearing the same title of the adrenaline pumping books. Thinking about it the movie never even reaches the same level as the 1972 scare-classic A Thief In The Night or the low budget Years of the Beast. It's a shame because in the right hands LBTM could have been a spectacular adrenaline laced blockbuster rivaling the best of the best; alternatively it could have been produced as a frighteningly realistic journey into a post-rapture world; either way the film-makers needed to take some risks with this movie. Unfortunately LBTM seems to play it safe for the most part.
All this left me, and many others, thinking it could have been so much more.
But it is what it is. And as I stated earlier it's pretty good and would have probably been received and regarded better if it wasn't based on books that screamed big budget, big soundtrack, big actors, big explosions... in short everything BIG! The movie looks good, in a made-for-TV way, and the actors do a good job with the material they had to work with. I felt the story deviated from the novels story a little too much, obviously due in part to budgetary constraints, but it did manage to keep my attention for the 95 minute running time. Brad Johnson is good as Rayford Steele but Kirk Cameron took some getting used to, not because he's a bad actor or anything but because I envisioned him looking different... ah the age old problem problem of book to film:) Gordon Currie on the other hand hams it up with one of the funniest, unintentionally so, portrayals of a European anti-Christ to date. His accent wavers somewhere between Canadian, Currie is Canadian, and Russian. He may look the part but if he's going to win the world to himself he needs to work on that accent!
Overall, I liked LBTM even though my review seems to pick it to pieces... call it helpful criticism. On a scale of 1-10 I would place it somewhere around 6, not brilliant but could have been a whole lot worse. CSJ.
Note: The rumor mill has it that LaHaye and Jenkins the author's of the book series were not too happy with the finished movie and are working to get it made the way it should have been made.
August 2007: Cloud Ten Productions are reportedly working on Left Behind IV which, like the excellent Left Behind III: World At War, will only stick loosely to the storyline of the book series.