Leave The World Behind review: Building tension and getting bored watching the paint dry

Netflix’s new thriller loses itself in an attempt to portray the apocalypse.

photo by Chait Goli via Pexels

With an admittedly pretentious taste in film, I am no stranger to a movie without a storyline. But in the world of artsy cinema, plotless-ness paves the way for something greater: intriguing character studies, profound social commentaries, thematic deep-dives. Last year’s Netflix exclusive, Leave The World Behind, however, opted for none of these.

Based on the novel by Rumaan Alam, the film follows a typical white suburban family who rent a house in the hills for a weekend away. When the homeowners return early seeking shelter from mass blackouts, their escape from work and school becomes an escape from the country-wide collapse of civilisation, complete with jammed signals, threatening foreign messages, and planes falling from the sky. The origin of these ominous happenings is entirely unknown, and the ensuing confusion becomes the focus of the following two and a half hours. 

“What could have been an innovative depiction of race or the internet was instead an innovative depiction of how little Netflix cares about where its funding goes.”

While this mysterious synopsis may seem an artful way to dodge spoilers, the film gives genuinely no indication as to why this all happens. Instead, the film offers a series of unconnected displays of Netflix’s special effects budgets. While oil tankers running ashore and flamingos invading the pool do look impressive, they offer nothing by way of an overarching narrative. Unlike American Psycho’s tactful avoidance of story to explore Bateman’s inner psyche, the characters in Leave The World Behind are superficial and unchanging. The star-studded cast (including Moonlight’s Mahershala Ali and the EE advert’s Kevin Bacon) offer mundane stock characters with no developmental arc. Despite her impeccable performance, even Julia Roberts’ monologue as the overworked mother feels unmotivated and unmoving. The only exception to this can be found in Myha’la (Bodies, Bodies, Bodies), who offers a surprisingly layered Ruth, both unlikeable and worthy of sympathy as she swings between an anxious daughter and a woke lefty stereotype. Yet with her role condemned to the side-lines, it is clear this film is not an intriguing character study.

An hour into the film and still lacking any clue where it would take me, I considered perhaps director Sam Esmail was making a philosophical point. Writer and director on Mr. Robot, Esmail is familiar with exploring the dangers of modern technology, yet the commentary offered by Leave The World Behind feels empty. A recurring theme is the young daughter, Rose’s obsession with Friends and her yearning to know what happens to Ross and Rachel. Yet none of the other characters struggle without technology, with her brother Archie happily flicking through photos of his girlfriend on his camera roll. Far from Her’s detailed commentary on our relationship with technology, the film offers mere scraps of the theme through fake deep dialogue like Rose’s “with everything that’s going on in this f-ed up world, at least I can find out what happens.”

Alongside this comes notes on race in modern America, though these are equally unsatisfying. In parts, they are painfully on-the-nose, including Amanda’s claim that the two black characters must be the housekeepers. Elsewhere they are barely even noticeable, including a half-a-second shot of a sign to ‘Taney Farm’ named after U.S. Chief Justice, Roger Taney, who ruled in favour of slavery (noticed only by the keen eyes of the YouTube film theorists that helped me research this). The rich commentary it could have offered, portraying two affluent black characters trapped in their own home with white suburbanites, is pushed out of frame to accommodate a shot of the earth from space. If Leave The World Behind were about character, Ruth should have been central, and if the film were about technology or race, then either should have taken centre-stage.

“With its failures in suspense building, its lack of depth in social commentary, and the superficiality of its characters, Leave The World Behind throws away plot and picks up nothing.”

Without a plot, an intriguing set of characters, or a message, Leave The World Behind has little left to offer, but perhaps I should stop thinking so deeply. Perhaps this is just an entertaining film. Sadly, this is also untrue. For two and a half hours, you are bombarded with suspenseful sequences that drag for far too long. A prime example is the intersplicing of an abandoned house, a scary story in the woods, and Ethan Hawke’s Clay attempting to escape a drone which takes a dazzling ten whole minutes. This comes a mere 45 seconds after the end of the last suspenseful sequence. With a crescendo of strings playing throughout, what is intended to be nail-biting suspense feels more like a manicure, and any potential pay-off falls asleep in the process.

There are bright spots to the movie though. While suspense is often poorly done in the film, watching a tirade of newly made Teslas race towards the family on autopilot did set me on edge. Todd Campbell (known for his work on Stranger Things) also affords the movie an intriguing use of cinematography, slowly zooming to Julia Roberts to depict her increasing anxiety, or spinning to a portrait-oriented shot of G. H. as a plane hurtles towards him.

The ending of the film is also well-written, as Ruth uncovers an underground bunker filled with Friends video tapes. As she sits down to watch the final episode, the screen cuts to black, and the unmistakable opening song rings in the air. She may be able to find out what happens to the famous TV couple, but with the rest of the family scattered in their search for her, we will never know what happens to them.

We may also never know what prompted former US president, Barack Obama, to executive produce the film. Nor will we know its purpose. With its failures in suspense building, its lack of depth in social commentary, and the superficiality of its characters, Leave The World Behind throws away plot and picks up nothing. What could have been an innovative depiction of race or the internet was instead an innovative depiction of how little Netflix cares about where its funding goes.