The latest post-apocalyptic film, and potential franchise, is the massive best-selling “Left Behind” series by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins has been adapted for the big screen. This time, Nicolas Cage takes center stage as an airline pilot trying to land his damaged plane after the Christian Rapture has taken millions of people away.
See video: Nicolas Cage Flies Through the Rapture in God-Awful ‘Left Behind’ Trailer (Video)
The ground is littered with wreckage and the airports are a mess, but he needs to find a way to save the remaining people on board. Trapped in the air with him is Chad Michael Murray, playing a journalist trying to make sense of what’s happening.
The story on the ground is told through the eyes of Cage’s character’s daughter, played by Chloe Steele. With both her mother and brother vanished, Steele must make sense of the madness that’s threatening to engulf those left behind in this insane new world.
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The initial devastation wrought by mass vanishings has been most recently explored on HBO’s “The Leftovers,” but it’s not on the same scale. The latest trailer for this adaptation of “Left Behind” captures the terror of those early hours and days in a world seemingly gone mad.
Kirk Cameron starred in the first film adaptations of the popular series, an awful trilogy of movies that covered the first two books in the 16-volume series. “Left Behind” marks a total reboot of the franchise, with additional sequels planned to continue the story.
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While the acting pedigree may make it seem like this will be better, it all depends on how heavy-handed the storytelling is, and whether this is a performance by Oscar-winner Nic Cage, or the guy who did “The Wicker Man.”
“Left Behind” was directed by Vic Armstrong from a screenplay by Paul LaLonde and John Patus. LaLonde co-produced the movie, along with Michael Walker. It co-stars Jordin Sparks, Nicky Whelan, Lea Thompson, William Ragsdale, Martin Klebba and Lance E. Nichols. Samuel Goldwyns Films will release the Stoney Lake Entertainment production to theaters on Oct. 3.