Movie: Leave the World Behind (2023) Caution Spoiler Alert

 Leave the World Behind

Came out; 2023

Time; 2 hr 18min

Watched: Netflix

Rated: R for language, some sexual content, drug use and brief blood images

IMDB Rating; 6.5/10

Caution; Spoiler Alert

Staring;

Julia Roberts as Amanda Sandford

Ethan Hawke as Clay Sandord

Farrah Mackenzie as Rose Sandford

Charlie Evans as Archie Sandford

Mahershala Ali as G.H. Scott

Myha'la as Ruth Scott

Kevin Bacon as Danny

Story Line;

Amanda and Clay's aspirational vacation with their teenage children is interrupted by the arrival of a middle aged man and his daughter who own the holiday home and who have fled an unprecedented blackout in the city. When the internet, television and radio stop working, as does the landline, they have no way of finding out what is happening. As strange sonic booms shatter the peace of the countryside, and animals start to migrate in strange ways, the physical and mental health of the families begins to disintegrate. The renters are upscale and White; the owners are upscale and Black. The issues of race clash and become distractions to the more alarming things are happening all around them

Thoughts:

This was such a good movie, until the ending! There were so many more ways they could have ended it, this one was dumb.

You could actually feel the tension coming though the screen

CAUTION; Major Spoiler Alert

Amanda Sandford, wakes up one day and decides to take her family for an unplanned vacation to a rental house on Long Island. Her husband Clay is a professor, and her two children, Rose and Archie, are tech-obsessed. While shopping at a grocery store, Amanda sees a bearded man buying a large quantity of water and canned goods. Later on while at the house, they have no internet access. Rose is unable to watch the last episode of Friends. Clay and Amanda watch as deer enter the property. As they relax at a nearby beach, an oil tanker runs ashore. Disturbed, they return home to find that neither their television nor Wi-Fi is operable.

Later that night as the kids sleep, George H. Scott (G.H.) and his daughter Ruth show up at the house. They explain that the house is theirs and that a blackout in the city made them come over to Long Island. Ruth's mother is in Morocco on a business trip and is due to fly back the next day. Amanda is immediately distrustful of them, but Clay allows them to spend the night after G.H. refunds them $1,000 in cash.

In the morning, Amanda discovers four news alerts on her phone, two about the blackouts, one warning about hackers being responsible for what is happening, and one written in numbers and symbols. Rose watches a much larger group of deer come over to the property. Clay decides to drive to town to get some answers, but is unable to find his way as his GPS does not work. He drives past a distressed woman speaking in Spanish asking for help, but he drives away. He also sees a drone drop leaflets written in Arabic.

G.H. goes to his neighbor's house, finding it in ruins. He finds a crash site on the nearby beach containing scattered bodies and severed body parts, and watches another airplane crash into the same spot on the beach, which soaks him in ocean water. Rose confides her concerns about the deer to Archie, stating that the deer were trying to tell her something, but he does not care as he is enamored with Ruth. Rose and Archie go to explore the deer phenomenon and come across a shed. When walking back to the house, Archie is bitten by a tick.

G.H. returns to the house and lies to Ruth and Amanda about why he is wet, stating that he fell into the pool. Later G.H. informs Amanda that he was unable to use a satellite phone, theorizing that the satellite infrastructure must have been damaged, and he tells her about the plane crash. A sudden shrill noise overpowers them all.

G.H. informs Amanda that the bearded man she previously saw bulk buying water and canned food was a survivalist and housing contractor named Danny. Clay returns and shows one of the leaflets dropped by the drone. Archie translates part of it to mean 'Death to America'. The Sandfords decide to drive to Amanda's sister in New Jersey, but find the highway jammed with self-driving cars crashing into one another; they return to G.H.'s house.

Later that night, G.H. confides to Amanda that a government conspiracy might be at play. They grow closer, but do not cheat on their spouses. Meanwhile, Ruth asks Clay to vape with her and asks him provocative questions. They witness a flock of flamingos in the pool. Ruth later claims to her father that Clay wants to have sex with her, and questions him why he let them in again. They also talk about Ruth's mother, whom they now assume to be dead. Rose cannot be found the next morning, and Archie's teeth start falling out.

G.H. takes Clay and Archie to Danny, the survivalist, for medication. Danny suggests that Archie's teeth falling out and the painful noise that everyone has experienced is the result of a microwave weapon. While looking for Rose, Amanda saves Ruth from being attacked by a herd of deer. After a prolonged stand-off, Danny decides to help Archie in exchange for money and directs them to a nearby underground bunker prepared for doomsday. G.H. confesses to Clay that he knows what's happening - he says that a political coup d'état is afoot, which is why the people in positions of power are letting a civil war take root by disrupting technology and feeding chaos. Amanda and Ruth see New York City being bombed, while Rose walks into a neighboring home and finds the bunker, where an Emergency Alert System interceptor reveals that the U.S. is at war with rogue armed forces with the suggestion of radiological weapons being involved. She finds a DVD of the last season of Friends, and starts to watch the show finale.