Leave the World Behind

"Leave the World Behind" weaves a chilling tale that terrifying in its timeliness.

"Leave the World Behind," the latest film from writer/director Sam Esmail, is a psychological thriller that plays like an expanded classic Twilight Zone episode and has a premise that is chilling due to its real-world possibility.

Amanda (Julia Roberts) and Clay (Ethan Hawke) a well-to-do couple from Brooklyn are about to depart on the vacation from hell. On a whim, Amanda books an elegant house away from the hustle and bustle of the city for her, Clay, and their children Archie (Charlie Evans) and Rosie (Farrah Mackenzie). It seems like a dream weekend getaway until weird things begin happening.

The day at the beach is interrupted when an oil tanker slowly approaches the shore and crashes into the beach. Then their cell phones and the T.V. are out of commission, but it's nothing a gorgeous backyard and a pool can't fix. But when a knock comes at their door, it opens a pandora's box that will upend their lives as they know it.

On the other side of the door are D.H. (Mahershala Ali) and his daughter Ruth (Myha'la) – the rental owners. They explain a blackout in the city, so they've sought refuge at the house and ask to stay with Amanda, Clay and their kids. Amanda is more than apprehensive; that apprehension comes with a distinct racial undertone, setting her and Ruth as odd from the get-go.

As everyone tries to figure things out, it is apparent that D.H. knows more than what he's revealing. A quick blip on the T.V. reveals a cyberattack that has struck the U.S., but we do not get much more info than that. Planes fall from the sky, mysterious tones render people unable to move from the discomfort, and the two families have no other option than to wait for answers.

Clay and D.H. venture from the home, hoping to find answers – Clay goes to town, and D.H. goes to his neighbor's house. Clay gets lost along the way and encounters a frantic woman speaking Spanish, which he can't understand, and we get our first true glimpse of what will happen as the event plays out – isolation. Take care of your own at all costs.

Leaving the woman on the roadside, her screams fading as he speeds away. The engine roars, and Clay's heart races. In the rearview mirror, a crimson blanket inches closer. He’s quickly overtaken by a drone dropping leaflets with the chilling proclamation: 'Death to America.

D.H. Finds his neighbor's home deserted but waterlogged. He quickly finds what he's looking for – a satellite phone, but its inability to find a connection only confirms his suspicions about what has happened. Even more disturbing is what he discovers on the sandy beach behind the house.

When they all gather back at the house, Amanda and Clay decide to leave against D.H.'s advice, and their return trip home begins, but it's quickly halted when they come upon the road blocked by a multitude of white Teslas. How the Teslas get there is one of my favorite twists of the movie. Again, it is terrifying only in the real sense that it could happen at any time.

The families grow closer as their outside world crushes in around them. Still, in their shared claustrophobic reality, the truth of everything lies just outside the periphery, where they only catch glimpses of what is truly going on. Their specters dance just outside the shadows, but those shadows are growing ever closer, and when Amanda, Clay, D.H., and Ruth realize what is happening, it might already be too late.

For the many good things "Leave the World Behind" has to offer, the ending of this film flat out made me angry. I'm not going to spoil anything here. I want you to experience it yourself. I want to see if you had the same reaction I did or if you find it thought-provoking.

I’m not sure what Esmail was going for with the ending. Did he think the ending would play out funny or ironic? Did it have bigger meaning that went over my head? What it did for me was utterly give the middle finger to the superb film up to that point and to those of us who were sucked in and came long for the ride. Was it a little funny? Sure. But I sure as hell didn't expect that to be the film's final scene. It's not often that I yell at my T.V. in a blind rage, letting a few expletives slip into the ether, but I felt cheated.

 What's weird about it is the film runs almost two and a half hours, but I wanted more, and that's why the ending was so frustrating. I bought the ticket. I took the ride. You had me, Mr. Esmail, and in the end, you let me go.

I loved all the performances in the film, but Hawke and Ali were the standouts for me. Myha'la was great, and Roberts was fine, but Hawke and Ali never missed a beat, and each of their performances rang true. Roberts was too unlikeable for me, and I never found myself connecting with her character. Kevin Bacon pops up in a quick cameo as a conspiracy theorist survivalist and completely nails the part.

The camera work in "Leave the World Behind" is breathtaking at times. Cinematographer Tod Campbell delivers some very Hitchcockian moments with his style choices throughout the film and lends to the sense of disequilibrium some moments call for. His work is excellent.

Esmail delivers a top-notch psychological thriller that offers the tease of huge revelations around every corner, but the writer/director opts to keep piling on the mysteries instead, ratcheting up the tension until your muscles ache and your brain is spinning.

“Leave the World Behind” weaves a chilling tale of a world teetering on the brink with unraveling truths, blurring the lines between psychological suspense and timely unease.