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Leave The World Behind is a new Netflix thriller, the title of which comes from the tagline on the Air BnB-style holiday website being perused by Amanda Sandford (Julia Roberts – Money Monster), who figures she’ll take her family to a big posh house to get away from it all, and book it before she has a chance to think about it, so no-one can refuse.
Separated in five parts, starting with the house, itself, I should’ve figured something was wrong when her husband, Clay (Ethan Hawke – Raymond And Ray), is seen wearing open-toed flip flops… I jest… but, seriously, men should not wear those.
First up, the trip down to the beach doesn’t go quite as planned, once they spot a big boat in the distance… which gets bigger… and turns out to be an oil tanker, which spectacularly runs aground once it inches closer, although it does seem odd that later, when conversing with other people, no-one talks about it. Doesn’t anyone check the news?! That sort of shenanigans would be on Twitter within seconds!
However, with the house Wi-Fi cutting out, and a few deer popping up at the bottom of the garden, the trailer for this did make it seem like the End Of Days was coming. Is that what kind of film this will be, I wondered?
At that point, house owner GH Scott (Mahershala Ali – Swan Song) turns up, with daughter Ruth (Myha’la – Dumb Money), who would normally be away at this time, but they need to stay over, following a blackout in the city, even though Amanda observes that their house lights are still on.
There’s a smaller role for Kevin Bacon (Patriots Day), as slightly whacked-out neighbour Danny, even though he’s higher up in the cast than Hawke is, but he still makes a good contribution.
However, little by little, in this potboiler, more weird stuff keeps happening that could either be explained away after a few hours, or could be the start of something major, and you’re left wondering which way the script is going to jump, but at times, it does feel like the sort of movie that Alfred Hitchcock would make, if he was still around in 2023, occasionally giving feels of Roald Dahl’s Tales Of The Unexpected, and at one point, it got so mad, that I was just waiting for Sapphire and Steel to turn up!
Plus, I love a potential ‘end of the world’-type premise, so this was right up my street, even if it does feel a bit daft at times, while it drip-feeds the necessary information to you over the 141-minute running time.
And if this really IS the end of the world, how will young daughter Rose (Farrah Mackenzie – Logan Lucky) find out how Ross and Rachel fared at the end of Friends?!
Thanks to our friends at Netflix for the screener prior to release.
Leave The World Behind is on Netflix from Friday December 8th, but isn’t yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD.
Check out the trailer below:
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 141 minutes
Release date: December 8th 2023
Studio: Netflix
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1
Score: 8.5/10
Director: Sam Esmail
Producers: Sam Esmail, Marisa Yeres Gill, Lisa Gillan, Chad Hamilton, Julia Roberts
Screenplay: Sam Esmail
Novel: Rumaan Alam
Music: Mac Quayle
Cast:
Amanda Sandford: Julia Roberts
GH Scott: Mahershala Ali
Clay Sandford: Ethan Hawke
Ruth Scott: Myha’la
Rose Sandford: Farrah Mackenzie
Archie Sandford: Charlie Evans
Danny: Kevin Bacon
Danny’s Daughter: Alexis Rae Forlenza
Salvadora: Vanessa Aspillaga
Officer Crow: Josh Drennen
Jocelyn: Erica Cho
Taylor: Orli Gottesman
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.