Left Behind

Great concept, fantastic book series, the movie could have been a LOT better.

Now, I realize that when a movie attempts to capture the essence of a book, there have to be some sacrifices as far as details. I have read the book several times, and the movie somehow does not capture much of what the book conveys. Maybe it is time constraints that come with making a movie within, say, 90 minutes to 2 hours. But this movie seems rushed somehow. It did not let certain plotlines develop. In the book, Rayford only lusted after the stewardess, where in the movie, it seemed like it went a bit beyond that. Also, early in the movie, it seemed that Buck Williams already had a relationship with the Steele Family before the Rapture where it did not germinate until towards the end of the Left Behind book.

Maybe it was because of the low budget and time constraints. I remember when Kirk Cameron was fired up about doing the movie after reading the book. The funny thing is that this movie was produced without paying any attention to the details that made this book such a best seller. The basic idea behind the novel held true to the movie, but many key elements in the book were ignored.

My advice: Read the novel series, see the movie if you must for comparison's sake, not as a viable substitute to the novel.

I would like to say that I am a Christian, and I thought the movie was very much inspiring. My brother who is not a Christian, was touched. The thing is this movie is revealing what is going to happen. It is Biblical, and regardless of the acting or scripts, the concept of the movie is warning people about the inevitable. The movie is showing what could happen any time now. I would give the movie 8/10. It brought tears to my eyes for all the people left behind. It made myself look closely again at my Christianity, and It made my brother look more closely at his life.

I'm a Christian who generally believes in the theology taught in Left Behind. That being said, I think Left Behind is one of the worst films I've seen in some time.

To have a good movie, you need to have a well-written screenplay. Left Behind fell woefully short on this. For one thing, it radically deviates from the book. Sometimes this is done to condense a 400-page novel down to a two-hour film, but in this film I saw changes that made no sense whatsoever.

Another thing, there is zero character development. When characters in the story get saved (I won't say who), the book makes it clear that it's a long, soul-searching process. In the film it's quick and artificial. The book is written decently enough where people like Rayford Steele, Buck Williams and Hattie Durham seem real, but in the movie scenarios are consistently given the quick treatment without anything substantial. In another scene where one character gets angry about being left behind (again, I won't say who), it seems artificial.

I realize as a Christian it's unedifying for me to say I disliked this film, but I can't in a good conscience recommend a film that I feel was horribly done. Perhaps it would've been better to make the first book into 2-3 films. Either way, Christians need to realize that to be taken seriously as filmmakers, we need to start by putting together a film in a quality way. I realize a lot of effort probably went into Left Behind, but that's the way I see it.

even though I liked the books better. I saw the movie a second time and liked it better than I did the first time.

I hope anyone who sees it who doesn't 'get it' or who feels that only fundamentalist christians can really understand it will just open their bibles. I had friends who saw X-Men and got me to read some of the comics saying I'd enjoy the movie more if I did. They were right. So why is it so terrible to say crack open your bible and check out the stuff?

Sometimes it really makes me laugh. If you wanted to become a lawyer you'd learn contract law, study the constitution and various cases before taking the bar. You wouldn't attempt to pass the bar exam by talking to friends about their opinions and watching "The Practice." But people who believe in God don't read His book. And admitting that you've "studied the bible," which, in the long run, will also make you more literate, is akin to saying you have a communicable disease; people stare at you and back away.

Open it up. Not only does it give guidelines on how to live, it gives you promises for what comes after. And if nothing else, it will give you a clue what this movie is all about.

Christians give it a 10 and Christian haters give it a 0. Surprise, surprise! Can't we all just get along? Seriously, why can't anyone think any way other than "I'm a Christian and it is about Christ so it gets a 10" or "I don't like Christians so I have to give it a 0"?

The effects aren't great. They are on par with a USA original movie or a lower budget TV movie. But hey, Star Trek (Original) is much better than Next Generation so effects don't really matter unless all you want is eye candy (i.e. people that would never ever read a book). My wife read the books and begged me to watch the movie. I was raised a Christian but I am not really sure what I believe now, and I thought it was an ok movie. At least a 5 or 6. All of you Christians and Christian haters are no different. You are both prejudice against the other group. Grow up! I thought the story was a little better than average (6.5) and the acting & producing was average (4.5). I feel the story is the most important thing so I gave the movie a 6.0.