The Stream: It’s deliberately paced, so there are some slow parts.

The Big Screen: Freaky images, intense music, and a strong cast.

The Final Bill: An intense thriller with great visuals and an interesting point of view will capture your attention and play on your fears.

– Trip Fontaine
Director: Sam Esmail
Writers: Sam Esmail based on a novel by Rumaan Alam
Stars: Julia Roberts, Mahershala Ali, Ethan Hawke, Myha’la
Genre: Drama, Thriller
Rating: R for language, some sexual content, drug use and brief bloody images.
Runtime: 2 hours 12 minutes
Production Companies: Esmail Corp., Higher Ground Productions, Netflix Studios, Red Om Films
Platform: Netflix on December 8, 2023

Hey, Streamers! Netflix has had some good dystopian, apocalyptic movies on its service over the years. Remember Bird Box. Now, it has added a new thriller with ambiguously apocalyptic vibes called Leave the World Behind. Here whether this movie can fill that dystopian blockbuster hole in your Netflix-watching heart.

In Leave the World Behind, a family from Brooklyn randomly decides to take a vacation to a beautiful mansion outside of New York City. The mother, Amanda (Julia Roberts), wants to get away from people as she’s a self-described misanthrope. Her husband, Clay (Ethan Hawke), and their teen children are just along in Amanda’s attempt to leave it all behind. On their vacation as strange thing begin to occur, they receive visitors in the night, George (Mahershala Ali) and his adult daughter, Ruth (Myha’la). They claim to be the owners of the home and need a place to stay. Freaky, unsettling hijinks ensue.

Sam Esmail, who created “Mr. Robot”, wrote and directed Leave the World Behind. If “Mr. Robot” was your jam, then this movie may hit a chord with you as well. Esmail brings a lot of style to this movie through really interesting camera movements, the design of the vacation home, and the impeccable cinematography of this movie. There are some questionable visual effects here and there, but overall, the look of the movie is great. Moreover, the tone and tension that is built throughout is spot on. Yes, it is slow in spots; and, at over 2 hours, it is probably longer than it needs to be. Nevertheless, Leave the World Behind is billed as a thriller, and it truly is thrilling. The way the music is ominous, and characters look off screen just enough to put a bit in your gut. There are some images in this movie that you will not be able to forget and some themes like community, reliance of technology and racism that are effectively dealt with as well. You can simply enjoy this movie as a thriller as well as dig deeper into the harsher concerns of the movie. Either way, it is an entertaining experience.

I’ll briefly shout out this great cast. Mahershala Ali, Julia Roberts and Ethan Hawke play their roles perfectly. They bounce off each other just right. They all dial into the frequency of this unsettling, creepy and dire movie. Mahershala Ali, in particular, gets to be mysterious.

Ultimately, Leave the World Behind is an intense thriller that builds tension effectively throughout its runtime. It does a great job of holding your attention using some unsettling images despite some slow parts. Grab a big box of popcorn and strap in for a time. You’ll be freaked out.