The new Netflix film Leave the World Behind presents a vision of the apocalypse perhaps a little more disturbingly plausible than most. It has no zombies, alien invasions, giant monsters, asteroid collisions, or coordinated global fungal pandemics. Instead, the movie shows how rapidly modern civilization will crumble when… shudder to even consider the possibility… the internet goes out!

The film also marks a reunion between Mr. Robot creator Sam Esmail and his Homecoming star Julia Roberts. Acting alongside Roberts are fellow Oscar winner Mahershala Ali and nominee Ethan Hawke. Given that particular confluence of talent (especially with Esmail writing and directing), it should come as no surprise that the movie would offer a both serious-minded yet also very offbeat idea of what the end of the world would look like.

Whether the story really comes together in the end, however, is a question I’m still wrestling with after finishing it.

Title:	Leave the World Behind
Year of Release:	2023
Director:	Sam Esmail
Watched On:	Netflix

Roberts and Hawke star as Amanda and Clay Sandford, a quite well-off Manhattan power couple. One Friday, out of the blue, Amanda gets it in her head that they need to leave town, immediately. Her reasons are vague and somewhat out of character, and even she can’t explain them. Something just doesn’t feel right and she wants to be outside the city, so she books a weekend vacation rental, packs up their two teenage kids, and ushers everyone out the door.

Arriving at a cozy little hamlet on Long Island, all seems well at first. The house they’ve rented is lovely, with a comfortable amount of distance from the nearest neighbor, yet not too far from town or a nearby beach. The kids have a pool to swim in, and strong Wi-Fi so the young daughter can wrap up that Friends marathon she’s desperate to finish. Clay is pretty naturally chill most of the time anyway, but Amanda almost feels like she can relax and take a breath.

Then a giant oil tanker grounds directly onto the beach while they’re sunbathing. The only explanation offered is something about its navigation system being corrupted.

Later that night, the doorbell rings with two strangers in formal attire standing at the threshold. G.H. (Ali) introduces himself as the owner of the house. Apologetic for the intrusion, he claims that he and his daughter Ruth (Myha’la) had been in the city attending a symphony when a power blackout hit all of New York. Instinctively, he got in the car and drove them home.

Amanda’s anxiety shoots through the stratosphere at this. Not helping matters, their arrival coincides with the internet and television going out at the house, leaving everyone unsure of what’s happening in the world. Over the next few days, the situation intensifies as stranger and more inexplicable events occur, seemingly pointing to problems far vaster than just their little town. Planes crash from the sky. People disappear. Animals behave weirdly. Isolated from the world with no information to tell them what’s going on, and distrustful of each other, the two families struggle to live with each other while, potentially, the entire world could be crashing down around them.

For an apocalyptic drama, Leave the World Behind is deliberately small in scale and limited in viewpoint. The story looks at the end of the world from the outside margins. The movie has a few visual effects showcase moments but nothing too over-the-top, and is very limited in anything you might call an action scene. However, it ratchets up quite a bit of tension and suspense, and has some interesting ideas about how society has already been primed to tear itself apart. Esmail also manages to slip in some fun character moments (such as the daughter’s obsession with Friends) between the darker dramatic beats, and the whole thing is directed with his signature off-kilter style and flair.

On the other hand, the film gets a little too heavy-handedly political at the end, and leaves most of its questions frustratingly unanswered. For instance, I just couldn’t buy into the idea that almost everyone in town would suddenly disappear without explanation. Where would they go?

Ultimately, Leave the World Behind feels a little too much like an M. Night Shyamalan gimmick premise, and I’m left thinking that perhaps Sam Esmail works best with long-form series storytelling rather than a single-shot movie.

Video Streaming

Netflix streams Leave the World Behind in 4K HDR at an aspect ratio of 2.40:1. The digitally-photographed image has a very crisp, grain-free appearance that makes no pretense of looking like it was shot on film. Colors and contrast are rich, with a nice application of HDR.

The Dolby Atmos soundtrack makes very creative use of directional sound movement between speakers, including overhead. The musical score features some deep and rumbly low-end, and the ocean tanker crash scene in particular roars with thunderous bass.

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