The greatest sin of Leave the World Behind is that it throws too much into its two-plus hour run time. It is a family drama set in a time of civil disorder that is burdened with race dynamics, environmental messages, anti-technology statements, Death to America pamphlets, and Friends.
I knew some of this going into the show. I decided to try and take it for what it was and not think too much. For this I was rewarded with some decent acting and an ominous story about the end of the world. As long as I stayed in that superficial space, the movie was fine and reasonably enjoyable.
As soon as I started asking questions, the movie collapsed faster than enraged metropolis being force fed Dennis Miller rants in the heat of summer.
The core problem is that the director, Sam Esmail, is playing with too many sharp instruments, and not every one of them lands in the right place. For example, the race dynamics plot feels woefully underdeveloped. We get a whiff of some racism from Julia Roberts, but that quickly dissipates and then she is dancing awkwardly with Mahershala Ali. Aww, they like each other now. Likewise, the environmental message is muddled among herds of deer, who simply stare at the characters. We never once learn what has their ticks in a tizzy.
This all culminates in a frustrating final act. We finally get to see the larger conflict and chaos, and then the movie abruptly ends. Arrrgh! It would have been more impactful to not show it.
This movie (like most zombie movies as well) predicates itself on a single, flawed premise: cascading failure with no response. In the real world, when systems shut down or computers are hacked, people react to those events. They work to correct the mistakes. Civilization has a natural incentive to maintain itself. Any story about collapse must deal with this reality, lest it become another meaningless zombie movie. Want to watch a movie that did this correctly, watch Steven Soderbergh’s Contagion.
Esmail previously did the absurd hacker TV show Mr. Robot. I did not last more than a few episodes of that show before I threw my iPad aside in disgust, ranting, “that is not the way computers work!” I feel like Esmail heard my rants about Mr. Robot. For this movie, rather than show all the absurd details, he places them safely off screen. Out of sight from any kind of analysis or impact.
That is not any better, Sam!
Which gets us back to the ending. I get the message loud and clear: the world is collapsing, and all we do is gorge on junk food and meaningless drama.
Uh huh. So now what?
I am fine with that message, but surely there was a less cluttered way to show that. This movie tried too hard to be clever, and as such was not clever at all. It was merely a muddled mess and waste of good talent.
Nevertheless, there are worse ways to spend two hours. If you do not ask many questions, and watch the movie for the mood and acting, it is fine. If you are the type who must analyze movies, then be prepared to get frustrated.
