LEFT BEHIND - LA PROFEZIA: REBOOT DELL'OMONIMO FILM GIA' INTERPRETATO DA KIRK CAMERON, ORA INCARNATO DA NICOLAS CAGE. ALLA BASE I SEDICI ROMANZI DI JERRY B. JENKINS E TIM LAHAYE INCENTRATI SULLA FINE DEL MONDO, SULLE BEATITUDINI, LA PERDITA DELLA FEDE CHE GETTA IL MONDO DEI NON CREDENTI NEL CAOS SPIANANDO LA STRADA ALLA VENUTA DEL'ANTICRISTO
Dal 29 LUGLIO
(Left Behind; USA 2014; Thriller Sci-Fi; 110'; Produz.: Stoney Lake Entertainment; Distribuz.: Notorious Pictures)
Soggetto: Tratto dal primo romanzo della serie Gli esclusi di Tim LaHaye e Jerry B. Jenkins.
PRELIMINARIA - LA SERIE DEI 16 ROMANZI:
Dalla serie di 16 romanzi scritti da Jerry B. Jenkins e Tim LaHaye, incentrati sulla fine del mondo e sulle beatitudini secondo cui i veri credenti di Cristo verranno trasportati nel paradiso. Dopo la scomparsa dei credenti, il mondo si trova nel caos. In questo periodo un politico rumeno sale al potere promettendo di restaurare la stabilità , ma la gente non sa che l'uomo è in realtà l'anticristo.
Cast: Nicolas Cage (Rayford Steele) Chad Michael Murray (Buck Williams) Lea Thompson (Irene Steele) Nicky Whelan (Hattie Durham) Martin Klebba (Melvin Weir) Cassi Thomson (Chloe Steele) Quinton Aaron (Simon) Jordin Sparks (Shasta Carvell) Gary Grubbs (Dennis) Laura Cayouette (la vicina) William Ragsdale (Chris Smith) Stephanie Honore (Kimmy) Ashton Leigh (donna terrorizzata ) Luis Da Silva Jr. (Luis - passeggero 1) Donny Boaz (Passeggero 2) Cast completo
Lolo Jones (Lori)
Musica: Jack Lenz
Scenografia: Stephen Altman
Fotografia: Jack N. Green
Montaggio: Michael J. Duthie
Effetti Speciali: Louis Zlotowicz
Makeup: Natalie Christine Johnson
Casting: Dean E. Fronk e Donald Paul Pemrick
Scheda film aggiornata al:
21 Aprile 2020
Sinossi:
IN BREVE:
All'improvviso, milioni di persone al mondo svaniscono senza un'apparente ragione. Tutto ciò che di loro rimane sono i vestiti, gli oggetti e un opprimente senso di terrore. Le forze di polizia sono in allarme e le città diventano territorio di aggressioni, rivolte e saccheggi. La Terra in pochissimo tempo si ritrova immersa nelle tenebre e nessuno è in grado di essere d'aiuto o di fornire risposte. Ray Steele (Nicolas Cage), pilota di un Boeing 747, deve cercare di calmare i suoi passeggeri che hanno visto i propri cari svanire davanti al nulla e riuscire ad atterrare in un aeroporto che non sia in fiamme. Buck Williams (Chad Michael Murray), famoso giornalista intrappolato a 30.000 piedi d'altezza, si sforza di capire cosa abbia generato l'evento piÚ incomprensibile e devastante della storia. Chloe Steele (Cassy Thomson), la figlia di Ray a terra, invece, deve trovare la madre e il fratello.
IN DETTAGLIO:
Lâevento piĂš importante nella storia dellâumanitĂ si sta verificando. Improvvisamente, lâepisodio biblico del Rapimento della Chiesa colpisce la Terra. Milioni di persone scompaiono senza lasciar traccia. Tutto ciò che resta sono i loro indumenti e i loro averi; in un istante il terrore e il caos generale si diffondono in tutto il mondo: le sparizioni sono la causa di autoveicoli senza equipaggio che si schiantano e bruciano, gli aerei precipitano, mentre ingorghi, tumulti e saccheggi invadono le cittĂ . In un attimo lâintero pianeta precipita nelle tenebre, senza che nessuno possa offrire il proprio aiuto o trovare delle soluzioni.
La famiglia Steele è intrappolata nel filo tagliente del male. Ray Steele (Nicolas Cage), un pilota di aerei, si sforza di mantenere la calma per poter salvare la vita ai passeggeri rimasti a bordo del suo aereo, dato che il mondo al di sotto non è piĂš in grado di aiutare il suo equipaggio e mettere al sicuro le altre persone. Dopo aver esaurito tutte le risorse, il personale di volo scarseggia, il panico aumenta a bordo, e Ray deve pilotare il mezzo con lâaiuto di un reporter della GWN, Cameron âBuckâ Williams (Chad Michael Murray), il quale prende il posto del copilota in vista della crisi. Williams, rimasto intrappolato a circa 30.000 metri di altezza su un aereo colmo di passeggeri terrorizzati, non riesce a trovare nessuna spiegazione allâincomprensibile vicenda.
Sulla Terra, la figlia di Ray, Chloe Steele (Cassi Thomson), ha difficoltĂ nel cercare suo fratello e sua madre, entrambi dispersi durante lâevento. Dimenandosi nel caos, Chloe si fa strada in un mondo in cui regnano terrore e disperazione.
SHORT SYNOPSIS:
A small group of survivors are left behind after millions of people suddenly vanish and the world is plunged into chaos and destruction.
Commento critico (a cura di ANDREW BARKER, www.variety.com)
NICOLAS CAGE HAS RARELY LOOKED MORE MISERABLE THAN IN THIS DREADFUL UPDATE OF AN ALREADY DREADFULLY ADAPTED FAITH-BASED PROPERTY.
In what was surely a first in the annals of motion-picture marketing, an early ad for âLeft Behindâ featured a quote taken not from a film critic, but rather from Satan himself, who allegedly quipped, âPlease do not bring unbelievers to this movie.â This presents a rare scenario in which Christian moviegoers ought to feel perfectly secure heeding the advice of the Devil, as this faith-based thriller is likely to inspire far more dorm-room drinking games than religious conversions. With a âSharknadoâ-inspired visual style and a deeply weary lead performance from Nicolas Cage, âLeft Behindâ is cheap-looking, overwrought kitsch of the most unintentionally hilarious order, its eschatological bent representing its only real shot at box office redemption. The film hits theaters this weekend, but as for when believers can
expect to see the tenets of their faith reflected with any sort of sophistication or intelligence in a mainstream genre film, we still know neither the day nor the hour.
Appropriately for a film about the Second Coming, this is not the first attempt to adapt Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkinsâ massively popular 16-novel series of biblically inspired speculative fiction (call it âBi-fi,â perhaps). Back in 2001, a bargain-basement version starring Kirk Cameron limped in and out of theaters, followed by two direct-to-video sequels. With a considerably larger budget and wider release strategy, this yearâs edition can expect to do better business, though it will have to put in a very strong showing to avoid becoming the alpha and the omega of the rebooted franchise.
Directed by Vic Armstrong, the screenplay by Paul Lalonde and John Patus substantially strips down the plot of the seriesâ first novel, zeroing in on three
characters as they pass the first few confused hours following the Rapture, when all virtuous Christians are abruptly beamed up into heaven, leaving the unbelievers down below. Cage stars as a hotshot airline pilot named Rayford Steele (because âJackbuick Ironmusclesâ would have been too on-the-nose), who has just ditched his newly Christian wife (Lea Thompson) for the weekend to carry on with a flight attendant (Nicky Whelan), whom he plans to seduce at a U2 concert after a flight from New York to London. Rayâs daughter, Chloe (Cassi Thomson), is a dewy-eyed religious skeptic frustrated by her motherâs abrupt conversion and fed up with her absentee father. And investigative journalist Buck Williams (Chad Michael Murray) meets cute with Chloe at the airport, managing to score her number before boarding Rayâs plane.
As soon as the plane is over the Atlantic, a slight jolt sees all the children onboard, as well as
some scattered believers, vanish into thin air, leaving their clothes and possessions behind. Chloe, meanwhile, is at the mall when her younger brother goes missing, and must make her way on foot through the mildly unruly mob scene that has engulfed Long Island (unconvincingly played by Baton Rouge) to find her family. Sadly, the film never speculates on which U2 members, if any, were raptured from their London soundcheck.
From here, âLeft Behindâ toggles back and forth between the two scenes, typically using such phrases as âWhat is going on here?â and âI think I know whatâs going on here!â as cues to cut. In the air, Ray struggles to deal with mechanical failures and the disappearance of his copilot, while passengers in the first-class cabin â including the fearless Williams, a fashionable drug addict, a kindly Muslim, an antagonistic little person, a bolo-clad Texas businessman, an Area 51 conspiracy theorist,
and Jordin Sparks â bicker and kvetch. On the ground, Chloe does quite a lot of running and gasping, seemingly at a loss for how to fit herself into the story.
Thereâs nothing wrong with using the trappings of a disaster movie to attempt to spread a Christian message beyond the already converted, but âLeft Behindâ fails on several counts. Its spirituality manages to be both irritatingly sanctimonious and doctrinally vague; viewers who go into the film unfamiliar with the contentious Scriptural interpretations behind the seriesâ apocalyptic visions will leave scarcely better informed at the end. On a technical level, the picâs touted $16 million production budget actually seems high considering what made it onscreen, with Armstrongâs leaden pacing and chintzy visual effects sapping the action sequences of all tension or believability.
One hesitates to dwell too much on the performances, given the material the actors have to work with, but there
are several howlers throughout. Poor Sparks, so likable in 2012âs âSparkleâ remake, has a dramatic scene thatâs so misjudged itâs difficult not to laugh. And as for Cage, heâs certainly been in worse movies than this, but he seems too cowed by the storyâs religious underpinnings to embrace the crazy-eyed scenery consumption that helped make his late-career turns such guilty pleasures; here, he simply looks tired.
The issues with Cageâs performance may point to the biggest problem with the whole affair. There is nothing in the Scriptures that prohibits the good-natured enjoyment of schlocky B-movies, no reason faith-driven audiences canât have a âShowgirlsâ or an âArmy of Darknessâ to call their own. Had the filmmakers embraced even a little bit of the plentiful camp value here, âLeft Behindâ at least could have been entertaining. As it stands, only the cheeky marketing person who thought to quote Satan in the filmâs ads
seems to have really understood what this picâs proper tone should have been.
Perle di sceneggiatura
Bibliografia:
Nota: Si ringraziano Notorious Pictures e l'Ufficio Stampa Manzo Piccirillo.