Happy Holidays everyone! I hope everyone is having a great holiday season and enjoying lots of great classic holiday films. For me, this is a great time of the year for a nice end-of-the-world movie. This week’s selection is the new Netflix film, “Leave the World Behind”. Before we continue, I don’t want you to leave me behind, but if you haven’t seen this and don’t want to be spoiled… this is your warning. In the meantime, check out my other reviews here, then come back here after you’ve seen it.
Ok, now onto the good stuff. “Leave the World Behind” is Director Sam Esmail’s newest Netflix original movie. This is a fairly small cast… at least people with actual speaking roles, but those who do speak do a great job of moving the story and making you feel some of what they are going through. The movie starts out with the Sandford family heading out on a much-needed vacation. The Sandfords are played by: Julia Roberts (Amanda – the mother), Ethan Hawke (Clay – the father), newcomer Charlie Evans (Archie – the son), and Farrah Mackenzie (Rose – the daughter). They decide to rent a house close to the beach to get away from their respective jobs/life for a bit. We find out later just how extremely lucky this timing was for them.
The rest of the main cast is made up of the father/daughter duo of George and Ruth Scott (played by Mahershala Ali and Myha’la). Things are going smoothly for the Sandford family until a bunch of weird things start to take place. First, a huge oil tanker boat grounds up on the shore of the beach they are relaxing at. It’s moving slowly and thankfully none of them get injured by it. Then it appears that all signals are not working (cellphones, Internet, TV) which the kids of course aren’t happy about. But, the story really starts to ramp up when George and Ruth show up at the house.
We find out that George owns the house and Amanda and Clay were renting it from him. Even though Amanda is very suspicious of the pair, Clay seems to be okay with it and invites them to stay. For the first day they are together, there is lots of tension between the two families and all of the cast do a great job of really playing into it. There are a few points when it was almost uncomfortable to watch because of the tension between everyone.
This movie truly embraces the slow-burn thriller here as they bounce back and forth between the different characters and the stories they are following constantly leaving us viewers to wonder what’s going on. There were a few odd things that happened along the way. At one point, Clay leaves to see if he can find help or some information from someone and gets lost only to find a terrified lady speaking a language he doesn’t understand and a drone dropping leaflets everywhere. A bunch of deer kept hanging around the backyard and some flamingos flew and landed in the pool. Then, when the Sandfords try to leave at one point, they see a bunch of Teslas crashing into one another and all the roads into the city are blocked with traffic.
The Sandfords and the Scotts begin to trust one another more and more as the movie progresses and they are thrown into greater and greater conflicts where they have to rely on one another and work together. Amanda and Ruth are able to bond in the woods while they are out looking for Rose while Clay and George have a similar relationship-building event when they go to visit a neighbor to try to get some medicine for Archie. Archie wasn’t feeling well and had woken up with his teeth falling out. It was a high-tension moment when the neighbor (played by Kevin Bacon) at first refused to help but eventually accepted some money for the medicine.
Since members of both families go out on a limb to help the other, you start to feel like they will be able to survive whatever is going on together. So, when Rose goes missing and the other two ladies go looking for her, I am not surprised at the ending. Rose found her way to another house just past the woods and it was all decked out with a shelter for some nice underground living arrangements that were big enough for both families. So, a happy ending for at least those six individuals.
Overall, this was a fun movie that kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time. The score was beautifully done by Mac Quayle (according to IMDb) and it did a great job of making the movie a lot more thrilling. The camera work was also phenomenal (Tod Campbell… again thanks to IMDb) with shot flipping upside down, through holes in roofs and shifting from floor to floor in the house. There were just a few things that I wished would have been resolved or explained better. The animals, which were creepy to see didn’t really amount to much other than bringing Amanda and Ruth closer. Maybe that was the idea all along?
The story itself just comes to an abrupt, but not a surprising end, but after almost two and a half hours of nail-biting and edge-seat-sitting (yes, it’s a thing) it seemed right. We are to easily assume the main characters will be alright based on the story we just saw and the rest of the world is in trouble.
My final score for this thriller is a 7 out of 10!
If you’ve seen it, what do you think? What would you rank it and what are your thoughts?
I would give this film an 8 for erieness alone. This was well put together. I haven’t felt that nervous in a movie for a very long time. I could have used more storyline in the end, however.
This movie was very suspenseful. Left me craving more. I would offer a high score as well.