Left Behind III: World at War

I've seen all three of the left behind movies they are not my type of movie. I'm just not big on movies with religious undertones. That aside it really is a great movie.

There's lots of drama and a bit of action mixed with the plot of a world at war under the rule of devil. Not to mention great acting. I know there's many movies about then end of the world and man vs. the Devil but this story really is unlike any other.

I highly recommend you watch Left behind the movie and Tribulation Force before watching this one. Chances are if you can't get into the first movie or just didn't like the first movie than this one isn't for you.

This movie starts off with the President of the United States, "Gerald Fitzhugh" (Louis Gossett Jr.) sitting at his desk in a bombed out White House lamenting the day he gave up America's sovereignty to "Nicolae Carpathia" (Gordon Currie). The film then backtracks a bit to an assassination attempt upon him which manages to kill the Vice-President, "John Mallory" (Charles Martin Smith). It's at this point that we learn there are two groups who oppose Nicolae Carpathia: (1) The militias who intensely dislike the surrender of America's sovereignty and (2) Christians who refuse to accept the leadership of the anti-Christ. Naturally, Nicolae wants both groups destroyed and he comes up with a plan to discredit the first and another plan to decimate the second. Now, as far as the overall film is concerned I have to say that this turned out to be a major disappointment. Not only does it substantially deviate from the book but the last fourth of the movie was simply too preposterous to be believed. Along with that, I didn't think the movie flowed very smoothly from one scene to the next. That said, if there is going to be a fourth film in this series I would hope that it is made with a view towards reality and Biblical accuracy. Below average.

As with most viewers of this film, I'm an avid reader of the books. The first 2 films have Buck, Ray and Chloe as the main characters but in this the second sequel they play second-fiddle to Louis Gossett JR's Presidential effort. World at War is based on the meeting he has with Buck in the book series.

The problem is - this film is as awful as the first two. Amanda appears just from nowhere and suddenly has a significant part to play (I won't reveal it in case anyone hasn't read the series). Other illogical parts feature. I really really want Cloud 10 to make a good Left Behind film but sadly this is similar in all the bad ways to the first 2.

Left Behind is a great name for these series of films. They should be left behind, in the darkest most inaccessible place on earth. If you pick up a movie at the rental store with the words Kirk Cameron and Left Behind you are about to waist 1 1/2 + hours of your time on a movie that is so boring being in traction with a broken leg is far more exciting and a we bit less painful. I am not sure if the producers were trying to camouflage these films as real drama but what they got was a dramatized religious Sunday school movie. The films are preaching the word of god and trying to put those words in a dialog of a normal dramatic film. What they ended up with was bad acting and an even worse script. Is it bad Directing or a combination of many things? Why was the acting so bad in so many scenes? I seen many of these actors in other films have great or at least above average performances. I actually chose to watch the first Left Behind film from beginning to end and because of a holly roller relative I was forced to watch most of the second and third movies. It's obvious that Kirk Cameron is a very religious person and that's great but if he is going to push his religious beliefs on people through the films he is involved with then those films should be advertised as religious films and not something else.

If you are a fan of the Left Behind series of books or movies you will enjoy this film. I can honestly say that I enjoyed it more the second time I watched it then the first. There are some points in the movie that you have to watch closely to get the why and how of the message. I got it better the second time than the first. I had showed the first two Left Behind movies at my church then showed this movie when it was released so we were excited about seeing the long awaited part three. No one was disappointed. Please watch the movie. Do not let the opinion of someone who has no idea of what the movie is about to dissuade you. I would suggest that you watch "Left Behind" and Left Behind Tribulation Force" first. Why not just call a bunch of friends over, pop some popcorn and have a Left Behind Film Festival. Who knows, it might just change someone's life.