Leave The World Behind movie review: A thrilling mystery ride

The 2023 AFI festival kicked off with the world premiere of the Netflix original film Leave The World Behind. The creator of the smash-hit series Mr. Robot, Sam Esmail adapted the film based on the book of the same name.

Leave The World Behind follows a family on a vacation interrupted by two strangers sharing the bad news of a blackout. As things worsen, the families must decide to work together to avoid a potential crisis while dealing with their own internal issues. The film stars Julia Roberts, Mahershala Ali, Ethan Hawke, and Myha’la Herrold.

When we first meet Amanda (Roberts) and Clay (Hawke), Amanda awakens Clay with a ruckus announcing that she has spontaneously booked an AIRBNB for them and their two kids to get out of dodge. Before we are hit with the title card, Amanda delivers a hilarious (especially coming from Julia Roberts) line “I fucking hate people.”

When the family enters the AIRBNB, many wild things leave you asking yourself, “What in the world is going on?” After a few weird things transpire, two strangers G.H. (Ali) and Ruth (Myha’la) show up at the house with the news that the world is under attack. A hesitant Amanda is quite reluctant to welcome them into the house with open arms, while Clay is a genuinely nice guy and open to helping anyone.

Leave The World Behind is a great mystery that keeps you guessing

One of my favorite things about Esmail’s script was the unknown. You genuinely don’t ever really know what is happening, and as we peel back the layers of what is happening next, you are left questioning many things that have been presented before us.

The story has this much more significant meaning to it for me as it looks at the perception of a world that is collapsing, whether that is looking at whether or not we are living life to the fullest, our obsession with finishing a TV series, or even the simple “judging a book by its cover,” the film opens the conversation on many topics that will hit home for audiences.

Speaking of the world collapsing, we have seen some of these end-of-the-world types of films fall flat on their faces over the years. However, Esmail provides as much context as he wants you to know and leaves us up to fill in the dots. But what makes Leave The World Behind stand out is the truly haunting and scary moments in the film.

The film isn’t perfect, nor does it have to be. My main issue stemmed from the slightly bloated run time of almost two hours and twenty minutes. This resulted in some scenes having too much dialogue when less would’ve been more effective. Outside of this, I found myself engaged throughout the film.

Overall, Leave The World Behind will be a SMASH-HIT for Netflix in the same vein as Bird Box. It will connect with audiences on many levels and has an ending that leaves you wanting more. An ensemble cast that delivers (Ethan Hawke is hilarious), a sharp, mysterious script from Esmail, and some truly haunting moments make Leave The World Behind one of the year’s biggest surprises.

Leave The World Behind hits limited theaters on Nov. 22, 2023 and streaming on Netflix on Dec. 8, 2024.