This apocalyptic Netflix thriller will keep you at the edge of your seat.
If you’re relaxing on the beach, and you see an oil tanker about to make a crash-landing, you would sure run for your life. If you find self-driving Teslas about to crash into you, you drive away fast. And you see flamingos in your pool or a group of deer in your presence.
You see those things in “Leave the World Behind,” an apocalyptic thriller made for Netflix and starring Julia Roberts, Ethan Hawke, Mahershala Ali, and Kevin Bacon. But you also acknowledge the stress and horrors of how a world goes into chaos and how people can turn against each other.
Based on Rumaan Alam’s novel, we meet the married New York couple Amanda (Roberts) and Clay Sandford (Hawke), who bring their kids-the typical son Archie (Charlie Evans) and the “Friends” obsessed daughter Rose (Farrah Mackenzie)-on a trip to a rental house in Long Island. It’s supposed to be a relaxing trip to the beach, until the tanker comes crashing in, and the police tell everyone to go home without any information given.
What is going? Nobody can say.
In the middle of the night, they’re greeted by a man named G.H. Scott (Ali) and his daughter Ruth (Myha’la Herrold), who say they’re the owners of the house. They inform them they have just escaped from a blackout during his musical symphony, and insist in staying with them. Amanda is more suspicious of them than Clay is, until they all hear the Emergency Broadcast System alert on TV.
Then the Wifi goes down, meaning Rose can’t finish watching “Friends,” G.H. can’t get in touch with his wife, and Clay tries to pick up a newspaper, only to find himself in real danger.
What they soon find out is that a worldwide cyberattack has broken through. The kind that would make planes fall out of the sky and Teslas having a line of crashes. And the kind in which a drone would drop fliers of red paper ads mean “Death to America.” This is definitely terrorism. Or it could be something much bigger than that.
“Leave the World Behind” was written and directed by Sam Esmail, who also created “Mr. Robot,” and this is the first film he’s directed since “Comet.” It was the film that took place in two parallel universes where Justin Long has a different love story. It’s been less than a decade since I’ve seen it, but I knew it was a real missed opportunity. “Leave the World Behind” takes full advantage on its premise, by having its characters question on who to trust and where they come from.
Other than some unnecessary lines about the main couple being unable to fix the TV or WiFi connection, the movie has speeches that question on morality, class, and trust, it has characters you can agree or disagree with (like Bacon cameoing as a survivalist) , and it really tests our fears about how terrorism can destroy us. It always has been a problem, and always will be a problem, and this movie treats it like something out of “War of the Worlds” or M. Night Shyamalan or Alfred Hitchcock. Maybe that’s what Esmail is going for, and he does it haunting and riveting ways.
The best performances in the film come from Roberts, Hawke, Ali, and Mackenzie. They all have their convictions and speeches about how this nightmare brings out their best and worst qualities. It’s all balanced by the fears within. I would be terrified if I was trapped in their situation, and I wouldn’t really know what to do. This movie hits those notes clearly.
And on a smaller note, this is the first movie to use the “Friends” theme song since “We’re the Millers” a decade ago. I know it’s no big deal, but it’s always nice to get a little nostalgia trip every now and then.
Find out what all of this means, and you’ll be haunted or entertained or both.
Now Playing in Select Theaters and Streaming on Netflix December 8