Movies regarding the end of the world have always been a popular hit, and Leave The World Behind is one of those. The film instantly shot up to the top 10 on Netflix when it was released to the streaming service in early December. I finally had the time to watch the entire 2 hours and 20 minute runtime of the film, and let me say I was more than disappointed.
Originally based off of a book, the film follows a family who needs to “get away” from life. They leave the city and drive to Long Island where they vacation for a weekend. But shortly after their arrival, they hear news of a blackout, strangers coming to visit them, and weird animal migrations. When traveling to the nearby town from the guest house they are staying in, they also don’t see another person. Later throughout the film, they come to the conclusion that foreign hackers are attacking the nation. This is apparently the cause of the end of the world. I will start with my few highlights first: I enjoyed the cinematography in this film (specifically the action scenes with the crashing Teslas), Julia Roberts had amazing acting (and was frankly the only believable character), and the message of the film was nothing short of bad. Other than the hint that our world could eventually be overrun by hackers, the theme of getting away from people was relatable and completely understandable. Unfortunately, there weren’t enough highlights to save this film for me. First off, I despise films with a runtime that is unnecessary, such as this movie. It was more than an hour longer than it should’ve been. Second, no problems are solved in this film with explanations, it’s all just left out in the open for us to decipher. The animals migrating for no reason, the plane crashes, and the shed in the woods are just examples of things that were never explained in the film. Third, why is the daughter so obsessed with Friends? In the end, the movie leaves off with a cliffhanger where the daughter, who treats the show Friends like God, runs off to watch the show and leaves her family behind. This is somewhat ironic considering the title of the film as the daughter runs away to just be with herself and the TV show, but it still is in my opinion a terrible and lazy written ending. There are so many unanswered questions that come from this film, and I recommend not wasting time unless you absolutely have nothing to watch.
Stars: 2/5
