Left Behind Collection

Kirk Cameron

Brad Johnson

Clarence Gilyard Jr.

Janaya Stephens

Gordon Currie

Chelsea Noble

Krista Bridges

Lubomir Mykytiuk

Christopher Bondy

Christie MacFadyen

David Macniven

Leslie Carlson

Louis Negin

Elias Zarou

Rudy Webb

Lorn Eisen

Jacqueline Leung

Cindy Gomez

Brian Kaulback

Roger Dunn

Howard Jerome

John Patus

Paul Lalonde

Bill Corcoran

Harold Thrasher

Ken Quinn

Jerri Thrasher

Dean A. O'Dell

Dwayne McLean

Michael Storey

Lisa Parasyn

Patrick Mark

Ron Booth

Josh Wittig

Tom Farr

Andrew Butcher

Sharon M. McDonell

Glenn Warner

Peter  Lalonde

Randy Butcher

Vann E. Gouweleeuw

Jamie Jones

Dave Van Zeyl

Nicholas Tabarrok

Michael Doherty

Gary Koftinoff

Fantasy

Drama

Thriller

Left Behind II: Tribulation Force

Cloud Ten Pictures

United States of America

Canada

***Effective low-budget rendition of the second book in the popular series***

After millions of people all over the earth mysteriously disappear, the world turns to a charismatic man to lead them, the new president of the U.N. (Gordon Currie). A small band of believers in Chicago recognize him as the Antichrist and work together as the “Tribulation Force” to save as many as they can. The group includes a renowned reporter (Kirk Cameron), a formidable pilot (Brad Johnson), his daughter (Janaya Stephens) and the pastor of their assembly (Clarence Gilyard Jr.).

Released in 2002, "Left Behind II: Tribulation Force" is the follow-up to “Left Behind” (2000) with the same cast, which was remade in 2014 with a bigger budget and truncated plot.  

The story is based on prophetic accounts of end-time events from the Bible. I have studied eschatology (end-times prophecies) and do advocate the pre-Tribulation "Rapture" based on scriptures like 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 and Luke 17:24,34-35. Of course the Left Behind series is a fictional story and you don't have to believe in the Bible whatsoever to enjoy the movie for what it is, a "What if the Rapture really happened" mystery/drama/thriller. I don't believe in powerful androids that time-travel from the future, but that doesn't prevent me from enjoying the Terminator flicks.

This sequel cost a little less than the 2000 film ($3.8 million) and is less busy story-wise. It has the confidence to take its time with convincing acting in challenging roles. I read the book and wondered how it could be made into a compelling movie because it’s more dramatic than the first one; in other words, there’s far less thrills until the last act, not to mention a considerable romantic subplot. The screenwriters did a great job of cutting out the fat and strategically adding some well-done evangelical bits, which aren’t overdone. The apocalyptic ending of the book was obviously omitted because it would’ve added 20-30 minutes to the runtime and would’ve cost significantly more. The filmmakers did a good job of finding the right place to close.    

Being shot in Toronto, I was wondering how they would pull off the Jerusalem sequences at the end, but they did a splendid job with the studio sets, particularly considering this is a low-budget flick.

The film runs 1 hour, 34 minutes. ADDITIONAL CAST includes Krista Bridges as the journalist’s assistant and Chelsea Noble (Cameron’s wife) as a flight attendant working for the Antichrist. 

GRADE: B

English