"Leave the world behind"

[jerry mcmasters]

SPOILER ALERT:  Don't bother watching it.

Basically a couple families grapple with the end of the world as it occurs.  Phone and internet service don't work, etc.   None of the characters are very likeable, and loooong amounts of time are spent with them interacting with each other- class tension, racial tension, sexual tension, characters that aren't very likeable snipping and sniping and zinging each other kind of tension- it's all very (to me) "why do I care about this person's opinion about anything?"  I think the movie believes it is some kind of high art, with well-crafted and fascinating "character studies" and in the end of course they all come out with great togetherness and bonding, but shit it's only because the world is ending, so I guess that is part of the message?  One character obsessed with the sitcom "Friends" gets to see how the show turns out, so that's poignant somehow...?

[Minimalist]

I got tired of it waiting for the ship to hit the shore.

[jerry mcmasters]

I think it's still coming.

[SYZ]

Film critic's consensus on Rotten Tomatoes:  73%.

"An exceptionally well-acted apocalyptic thriller, 'Leave the World Behind' steadily
draws the viewer in despite its leisurely pace and somewhat simplistic messaging".

A spectacular cadre of performers does not necessarily lead to a good, or even
watchable movie. I would say that the script needed another pass, but in terms
of pseudo-apocalyptic movies, Leave the World Behind is barely a blip. There are
only mildly interesting ideas, but they have all been done better previously and
likely will be done better in the future. Sam Esmail’s film is all style, no substance,
and a waste of talent.

  —Dave Giannini,  InSession Film.

[Minimalist]

That reviewer was overly kind!

[mordant]

I dunno, we kind of liked it here at Chez Mordant. The idea of weaponized Teslas alone was worth the "price" of admission. I think they were trying to build a sense of dread, of the way a true apocalypse would creep up on you like a slow "wow, we are fucked" realization. I thought the psychological warfare with the noisemakers was a nice touch, too. Even the slow approach of the tanker was exactly how it would play out IRL. The mind rebels at something that isn't Supposed To Happen. Until suddenly, wow, maybe we should get out of its way?

But yeah it was a bit, er, deliberately paced, and it wasn't really a happy ending, either. I give it props for original ideas, but I agree, they didn't quite pull it off such that I'd want to see it a second time. Also, from what I know of software hacking, I don't think an external enemy could obtain that kind of control to the level that they could aim ships and planes at things they want them to crash into. Too many manual overrides in the real world. Interesting theory of asymmetrical warfare though ... fuck us over just enough so we get at each other's throats and finish the job FOR them.

[Minimalist]

The Twilight Zone did the idea better in "The Monsters Are Due on Elm Street about 70 years ago....and they did it in a half hour!

[Thumpalumpacus]

I read the thread title, I thought of this:

[jerry mcmasters]

I dunno, we kind of liked it here at Chez Mordant. The idea of weaponized Teslas alone was worth the "price" of admission. I think they were trying to build a sense of dread, of the way a true apocalypse would creep up on you like a slow "wow, we are fucked" realization. I thought the psychological warfare with the noisemakers was a nice touch, too. Even the slow approach of the tanker was exactly how it would play out IRL. The mind rebels at something that isn't Supposed To Happen. Until suddenly, wow, maybe we should get out of its way?

But yeah it was a bit, er, deliberately paced, and it wasn't really a happy ending, either. I give it props for original ideas, but I agree, they didn't quite pull it off such that I'd want to see it a second time. Also, from what I know of software hacking, I don't think an external enemy could obtain that kind of control to the level that they could aim ships and planes at things they want them to crash into. Too many manual overrides in the real world. Interesting theory of asymmetrical warfare though ... fuck us over just enough so we get at each other's throats and finish the job FOR them.

Good analysis.  I do agree the intent seemed to be to build up the the sense of dread without unrealistic "jump scares" or stuff that was just "too much."  Regular people in the process of being baffled by odd things going on.  The tanker scene was maybe the best of the movie.  I guess, and maybe I'm being too meta, I never got pulled into the movie, I always felt very aware that, "Hey, it seems like they're just trying to really draw this thing out, they're trying too hard to be realistic" and if you're doing that something is off.  Maybe my movie-watching brain is fried and is trained to demand more explosions, monsters, and superheroes.

And, to carp about dialogue one last time, though a lot of yapping might be realistic, it seems like so much of it served no real purpose.  I think of something like Jaws, where not a word was wasted.