In one of the most thrilling Netflix films of the year, Julia Roberts battles the tech apocalypse. The star-studded sci-fi thriller starts on the streaming platform on Friday
The biggest scene of Leave the World Behind can already be seen in the trailer: A gigantic cargo ship pushes itself uncontrollably into a beach. The bathers flee in panic. And the internet isn’t working either. Director Sam Esmail sends irregularities like these as harbingers of the apocalypse into the perfect world of a New York family on vacation in the Hamptons.
The sci-fi thriller is the film debut of Esmail, who has previously only caused a stir in series (Mr. Robot, Homecoming). His film adaptation of Rumaan Alam’s novel has become something like the Don’t Look Up of 2023 – only darker, more exciting and less satirical. In this article, you’ll get a brief assessment of whether the film is worth your while and what it’s all about
The most important facts about Leave the World Behind
Netflix start: December 8, 2023
Running time: 140 minutes
Cast: Julia Roberts, Ethan Hawke, Mahershala Ali and Kevin Bacon
What is Leave the World Behind about?
Julia Roberts’ character Amanda arranges an impromptu vacation for her family (husband, a girl, a boy) in the wealthy Hamptons, a beach area near New York. The Airbnb idyll is disturbed by G. H. Scott (Ali) and his daughter Ruth (Myha’la Herrold). They pretend to be the actual occupants of the swanky house that Amanda has rented. Under a pretext, they seek refuge in the villa. The two families have to come to an arrangement somehow
(Leave the World Behind with Mahershala Ali, Myha’la Herrold, Julia Roberts and Ethan Hawke)
Then the internet goes down, the TV doesn’t work and a government announcement declares a national emergency. Something has happened, something big. A nuclear war? A natural disaster? An alien invasion?
Technology Plunges the World into Ruin: How Good is Leave the World Behind?
Don’t expect a sci-fi blockbuster in the style of Independence Day. Leave the World Behind pulls the apocalypse scenario back behind the (very generously edited) four walls. The resulting tension is effective. It is based on information deprivation. But this is not a trick à la M. Night Shyamalan – who made a very similar film this year with Knock at the Cabin – but the theme of the movie. Imagine a high wall blocking the view of the neighbor’s garden, from where panicked screams waft over – and then you have something like the mood of Leave the World Behind.
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In the best phases, this is reminiscent of genre greats such as Signs, which shifts the apocalypse behind the crumple zone of the private sphere, where the impact is only muffled. But they are palpable
