Any movie loses steam as it continues...there is nothing exempt from that and sadly Left Behind after two remarkable entries meets that road block with the third installment which really could have been their take off point. When I heard several changes to the production crew including bringing on director Craig Baxley and Sony Pictures coming on board, I was thrilled!! I figured this could change the series into a real contender for a mainstream film series. Baxley, like the other directors from the series has been around a long time but he's best known for his work on Stephen King films such as the brilliantly done Storm of The Century and Rose Red. He could bring exactly the dark twist necessary to the Left Behind series.
The film as part of the trilogy is of course still worth seeing, they just seem to make so many grievous errors. First of all they left the book series practically in the dust when they created this one. Normally I would be okay with that but the first two installments were so closely related to the book that it just doesn't make sense to have this one so far from it. They brought on award winning actor (Emmy, Academy award, Golden Globe etc.) Louis Gossett Jr. and they used him as the star power of the film as though he was HUGE!! The entire film revolved around him and in the process it left the rest of the returning cast in the dust. Kirk Cameron in his role as Buck Williams still continues to improve his role and his acting. This is his best performance yet as Buck, far more believable and starting to look the part. Brad Johnson probably would still do great as Rayford Steele if not for that fact that he's hardly in the film!! Janaya Stephens is great as Chloe and really gets to show off her acting chops when she becomes terminally ill. Cast replacement Arnold Pinnock as Pastor Bruce Barnes is okay but the previous actor was far better. The addition to the main cast Laura Catalano as Rayford's new wife Amanda is great. She looks and seems like she's perfect for the role but again...she too is hardly in it!! The whole film revolves around the President and his attempt to stop World War III.
Gordon Currie returns as the evil head of the Global Community Nicolae Carpathia. Unfortunately the screenplay writers and director forgot some key elements of this. Currie's best performance is that he can perfectly balance evil and his alternate public face. They never use his public side. The public adore this man and yet they make him out to be pure evil right now. They also created him to be indestructible which is wrong!! He's not indestructible, he's flesh and blood and furthermore will be flesh and blood until his assassination much later on. They made him far more supernaturally powerful than he should been. The evangelistic message is still there quite heavily in this installment but not nearly as evident as the others. It was done with far more subtlety. An attempt was made to mainstream the film but to do so I think they changed everything about the series that was great. I also think they made it very hard for themselves to continue this series which could go on for 10 more amazing films!! There is so much content to cover it would be a piece of cake. But because they chose to stray from the original story they made it very hard. I have become a big fan of the original cast and they were the ones who got left behind in this film all in the name of someone they hoped would be recognizable. This installment of the series if definitely far more polished which is great!! The acting has improved a great deal. The budget has remained the same and the story line is a little more complex than the second film. It just wasn't fit together properly. The film jumps from location to location. The characters move around the world in seconds, setting doesn't seem like the important issue but it is!! And despite the fact that World War III is happening in the U.S. we never get to see any of it. We don't get to see the actual war and that is disappointing and unfortunate because that's what this installment is all about!! Some may like this far more than the original films but for me...a fan of the books, and the original films I felt disappointed. I hope someone turns it all around!! 6/10
The film as part of the trilogy is of course still worth seeing, they just seem to make so many grievous errors. First of all they left the book series practically in the dust when they created this one. Normally I would be okay with that but the first two installments were so closely related to the book that it just doesn't make sense to have this one so far from it. They brought on award winning actor (Emmy, Academy award, Golden Globe etc.) Louis Gossett Jr. and they used him as the star power of the film as though he was HUGE!! The entire film revolved around him and in the process it left the rest of the returning cast in the dust. Kirk Cameron in his role as Buck Williams still continues to improve his role and his acting. This is his best performance yet as Buck, far more believable and starting to look the part. Brad Johnson probably would still do great as Rayford Steele if not for that fact that he's hardly in the film!! Janaya Stephens is great as Chloe and really gets to show off her acting chops when she becomes terminally ill. Cast replacement Arnold Pinnock as Pastor Bruce Barnes is okay but the previous actor was far better. The addition to the main cast Laura Catalano as Rayford's new wife Amanda is great. She looks and seems like she's perfect for the role but again...she too is hardly in it!! The whole film revolves around the President and his attempt to stop World War III.
Gordon Currie returns as the evil head of the Global Community Nicolae Carpathia. Unfortunately the screenplay writers and director forgot some key elements of this. Currie's best performance is that he can perfectly balance evil and his alternate public face. They never use his public side. The public adore this man and yet they make him out to be pure evil right now. They also created him to be indestructible which is wrong!! He's not indestructible, he's flesh and blood and furthermore will be flesh and blood until his assassination much later on. They made him far more supernaturally powerful than he should been. The evangelistic message is still there quite heavily in this installment but not nearly as evident as the others. It was done with far more subtlety. An attempt was made to mainstream the film but to do so I think they changed everything about the series that was great. I also think they made it very hard for themselves to continue this series which could go on for 10 more amazing films!! There is so much content to cover it would be a piece of cake. But because they chose to stray from the original story they made it very hard. I have become a big fan of the original cast and they were the ones who got left behind in this film all in the name of someone they hoped would be recognizable. This installment of the series if definitely far more polished which is great!! The acting has improved a great deal. The budget has remained the same and the story line is a little more complex than the second film. It just wasn't fit together properly. The film jumps from location to location. The characters move around the world in seconds, setting doesn't seem like the important issue but it is!! And despite the fact that World War III is happening in the U.S. we never get to see any of it. We don't get to see the actual war and that is disappointing and unfortunate because that's what this installment is all about!! Some may like this far more than the original films but for me...a fan of the books, and the original films I felt disappointed. I hope someone turns it all around!! 6/10