Back in 1995, writers Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins wrote Left Behind. It was a start of an original 12 book series that spanned 9 years. There was later a series of 3 prequel books and 1 follow on novel (Kingdom Come). It became the jumping off point for a series of fast paced Christian fiction novels that went on to become worldwide best sellers and several of the books making the New York Times best sellers list.
Due to the rising popularity of the books in 2000, Cloud Ten Productions released Left Behind The Movie starring Kirk Cameron (Growing Pains, Full House) and Brad Johnson (Always, Flight of the Navigator). The films went on to spawn two sequels, but then, due to legal rights, the films petered out. That was until 2014. Left Behind was rebooted with Nicolas Cage in the starring role, which covered around the first 20-30 pages of the book centring around the moment of the Rapture (The Christian version of the MCU Snap). The film wasn’t well received by critics and fans alike, so the sequel moved on without Cage.
Left Behind: Rise of the Anti-Christ takes place several months after the events of the Nicolas Cage movie and sees Kevin Sorbo (Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, God’s Not Dead) takeing over the helm as both director and star (As Rayford Steele the films main protagonist).
After millions of people vanish and the world falls into chaos, a charismatic leader rises to lead the UN. However, his intentions are more sinister than they appear.
Watch the Screen One interview with Left Behind: Rise of the Anti-Christ star Kevin Sorbo HERE
Left Behind: Rise of the Anti-Christ is to date the most complete and best of Left Behind movies that have been released to date. The film movies at a decent pace, even if at times it can feel like you are watching sermon with car chases.
Kevin Sorbo clearly knows his source material here, a Christian himself that cares about the source material and that comes across throughout the film. This doesn’t come without its problems though. The film is at its best when it sticks to the LaHaye and Jenkins source novel. In an attempt to modernise the story into today’s landscape the narrative sometimes veers off course and heads into personal opinionated viewpoints territory and may cause a lot of eye rolling and remove you from the story.
However, the film isn’t directed as an evangelical tool as its primary purpose. It’s an action thriller at it’s heart and with a decent cast including Corbin Bernsen and Mr dial a bad guy himself Neal McDonough, who is head and shoulders the best thing in the movie. He manages to balance the right amount of sinister without spilling into pantomime villain. Bailey Chase as the future Anti-Christ Nicolae Carpathia, is cleverly kept in the background until it is time to reveal his true motives works well. Charles Andrew Payne as Pastor Bruce Barnes guides the audience well through the biblical implications of Revelations, upon the events of which Left Behind is set. Sarah Fisher as Rayford’s daughter Chloe is also excellent with the screen time she is given.
Left Behind: Rise of the Anti-Christ is not going to set the world on fire, especially not in the UK, where Christian “Message” films aren’t readily accepted like they are in the States. However, it is a decent enough apocalyptic thriller that will tick a lot of boxes whether you are a believer or not. It’ll be interesting to see how Sorbo and Cloud Ten develop the series going forward and whether it will gain the acclaim of its original source novels.
