X
- 2023
- R
- Netflix
- 2 h 18 m
- 2023
- R
- Netflix
- 2 h 18 m
Summary A family’s (Julia Roberts and Ethan Hawke) vacation is upended when two strangers (Mahershala Ali and Myha’la) arrive at night, seeking refuge from a cyberattack that grows more terrifying by the minute, forcing everyone to come to terms with their places in a collapsing world. An adaptation of Rumaan Alam's 2020 novel.
Directed By: Sam Esmail
Written By: Rumaan Alam, Sam Esmail
- 2023
- R
- Netflix
- 2 h 18 m
- 2023
- R
- Netflix
- 2 h 18 m
Leave the World Behind
68
4.6
Where to Watch
Summary A family’s (Julia Roberts and Ethan Hawke) vacation is upended when two strangers (Mahershala Ali and Myha’la) arrive at night, seeking refuge from a cyberattack that grows more terrifying by the minute, forcing everyone to come to terms with their places in a collapsing world. An adaptation of Rumaan Alam's 2020 novel.
Directed By: Sam Esmail
Written By: Rumaan Alam, Sam Esmail
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 35 Critic Reviews
68
69% Positive
24 Reviews
24 Reviews
23% Mixed
8 Reviews
8 Reviews
9% Negative
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 35 Critic Reviews
68
69% Positive
24 Reviews
24 Reviews
23% Mixed
8 Reviews
8 Reviews
9% Negative
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
Leave the World Behind enters the stage as one of the year’s best and no doubt will spark massive amounts of conversation. It’s cast helps take viewers on a journey that, while they’ll feel the length, they’ll be so compelled by what’s happening it won’t even matter. Just don’t expect to sleep easy after seeing it.
Leave the World Behind is a smart, compelling take on the end of the world, and proves Esmail is a writer-director who deserves larger-scale projects like this after his television successes.
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 262 User Ratings
4.6
37% Positive
98 Ratings
98 Ratings
21% Mixed
56 Ratings
56 Ratings
41% Negative
108 Ratings
108 Ratings
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 262 User Ratings
4.6
37% Positive
98 Ratings
98 Ratings
21% Mixed
56 Ratings
56 Ratings
41% Negative
108 Ratings
108 Ratings
[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]
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Esmail's adaptation of Rumaan Alam's 2020 novel adds a playful Hitchcockian spin and the starry cast of Julia Roberts, Ethan Hawke and Mahershala Ali to create a psychological thriller about family, technology and life in the 21st Century.
Adapted from Rumaan Alam’s bestselling novel, Sam Esmail’s film is a dreary, harrowing sit—and all the more invigorating for it.
Similar to other disaster flicks, this film worms through oddball characters, takes interest in the disintegration of society, and the tension that arises from disparate people pushed to survive with each other. But Leave the World Behind struggles where it matters most, fashioning real stakes to accompany the turmoil.
After a while, the movie plays like a bulleted list of everything wrong with America — fair enough — but hurled so relentlessly at the audience that you can only assume the goal is for anyone watching the movie to find something they agree with. In the onslaught, the narrative tension dulls into passivity, both for us and for the characters.
Leave the World Behind is a dumb movie disguised as a smart movie, a middling thriller whose decorated cast and tricky camerawork can’t compensate for its undercooked, overwritten script.
Intelligent writing and film making. Very few films nowadays have this level of attention to detail, not just in the dialogue, but in the cinematography, how the different camera angles made you feel, and even using sound to drive the story forward. Intriguing. Entertaining. Memorable. Unexpected Netflix gem.
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Der Film hält fast durchwegs die Spannung hoch, angereichert mit vielen spooky Momenten.
Einige Szenen sind aber sehr verwirrend, oft scheinen sie etwas für die Geschichte zu antizipieren und haben dann doch keine Auswirkung.
Wie es dann mit den Familien weitergeht, erfährt man am Schluss nicht. Es wäre eigentlich ein zweiter Teil angebracht.
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Why is it so rare for a movie to have a message *and* a payoff? LtWB has such a good setup -- it masterfully cranks the mystery up in a steady, slow burn. But near the end, Roberts' character has a monologue that basically beats the viewer over the head with the movie's message (which was already fairly clear),
***** SPOILER FOLLOWS *******
and the denouement -- or rather the lack thereof -- is just another cramming of the message down our throats with no payoff. Ok, the daughter happily found what she was complaining about missing the whole movie, but they didn't have to end there. Ending where they did made so much of the mystery feel like red herrings. In particular, what the hell was up with the deers? Changing migration patterns doesn't turn deers into freakishly brave human stalkers.
The first 2/3 of the movie was so fun and mysterious, but it was like riding a roller coaster where you just about to reach the final corkscrew, and the cart just stops, then they tell you to wait while they position stairs next to your cart, then you have to just carefully walk down the stairs... and that's it -- that's the end of the roller coaster ride.
Please give us the message AND the payoff.
P.S. Ignore the misinformed Obama remarks in reviews. Here's an excerpt from a Forbes interview with LtWB director Sam Esmail:
"I think the silly thing about the [conspiracy theories about the Obamas’ involvement] is President Obama really came on a couple of months before we started shooting, so the script had basically been written and done,” he continued. “He obviously gave notes on the script, but the bones of the story and the sequences were already written. I would just say they’re pretty wrong in terms of his signaling. It had nothing to do with that."
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Weird. A list actors but poorly written script. What the heck is with all the unnecessary Michael Bay camera moves for ever single basic shot. The characters don't feel believable at at all. The way everyone acts with each other is bizarre. I laughed at a lot of it. Especially the blatant messaging. Like the shirts. Obey and NASA. Bad CGI Deer. The Tesla car attack. Just a weird poorly written movie.
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Character interactions not plausible or convincing, thus undermining to attempt to create tension. Poorly scripted, directed and acted, despite impressive cast. In the end, I was embarrassed for all involved in this movie, and regretted I wasted my time watching the whole thing, all the while hoping it would get better, but it devolved and fell flat, with a predictable, trite ending.
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Production Company
Esmail Corp.,
Higher Ground Productions,
Netflix Studios,
Red Om Films
Release Date Nov 22, 2023
Duration 2 h 18 m
Rating R
Tagline There's No Going Back to Normal
Awards
CinEuphoria Awards
• 1 Win & 5 Nominations
People's Choice Awards, USA
• 3 Nominations
AARP Movies for Grownups Awards
• 2 Nominations
