LEFT BEHIND: TRIBULATION FORCE

REVIEWED BY B. SUITT

Our rating: 4 out of 5

Because of: violence, thematic elements

Rated:

The story of millions disappearing continues as Buck, Rayford, Bruce, and Chloe join together against the anti Christ, calling themselves the Tribulation Force. They are sickened as they watch millions of people submit to the anti Christ, Nicolae Carpathia, who seems to be the only one who can save them. There is defiantly an eerie feeling when Nicolae proposes a one world currency and stands to say “Let us join together in peace, for ours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever, Amen!”

Desperate to lead these misguided people to the Lord, Rayford gets a job as Nicolae’s air plane pilot so that he might be able to obtain important information; Buck is now a Global Community reporter, specially assigned by Nicolae himself. Meanwhile, in Israel a strange report comes in that three men were burned by something at the Wailing Wall. The Global Community shuts down all access to the Wall, allowing no one to pass through. But Bruce believes it’s the two prophets talked about in Revelations, who are given fire from heaven. The young reporter is determined to make a story out of it, but Nicolae has other plans for him. Persuading him to write a report on a speech to be made by Rabbi Ben Juda, Buck wonders what could be so important about a speech. To his horror, he discovers that the Rabbi will be announcing who the Messiah is... and Nicolae looks like a likely candidate...

This is an excellent film, although it left you quite on the edge, as did the previous one. It followed the book really well and was very accurate. I would advise against letting younger kids watch it merely due to the thematic elements. Those who haven't accepted Christ in their heart might be frightened into salvation. It is very scary for some people to believe this may actually happen, and will cause many questions, I’m sure, with younger viewers in particular. Violence may be a concern to some of you, although I personally thought there wasn’t a lot and it wasn’t really very detailed. There are several scenes showing people being burned, or scarred by the flames. Nicolae's his face becomes demon-like on one instance, although it's only for a few seconds. (Boy, did I jump! :) I don’t think the violence is a big issue, though. I was very impressed with Gordon Currie’s performance as Nicolae Carpathia. He’s a very creepy character and makes the movie what it is -- great!

The presentation of the Gospel was outstanding! I’m all who have seen it will agree that it was very clear and well presented. It was really exciting to hear it and it challenged me to be a bolder witness for Christ. On the DVD they have a special interview with the actors and it was incredible to see them on fire for the Lord. I think the interview was one of my highlights of the film. I would encourage all Christians to watch this wonderful film!