Leave the World Behind

From the very beginning of the Mr. Robot creator's new Netflix thriller, it's clear that he has deliberately tried to recapture the same anxiously strange sense of uncertainty that can be found in Hitchcock's Vertigo and Cronenberg's A History of Violence, among others. I'm interested, fascinated, curious and a little bit uncomfortable without really knowing why, and that mystery lasts throughout this film, which for the most part just feels strange, without being strange. Thanks to this, and thanks to brilliant acting, Leave the World Behind is an extremely watchable story that manages to be unique despite the fact that the story and the book it's based on are the exact opposite.

We follow Amanda and Clay, along with their children Rose and Archie, as they leave their luxury apartment in Brooklyn to holiday a few hours outside New York City. They've rented a house on the outskirts of the Hamptons and once there, the owners of the shack they've rented show up and ask to spend the night in the house they've rented, as New York City has been paralysed by power cuts and general panic. Clay is the gullible optimist who is more than happy to let G.H. and his daughter Ruth in, while his wife Amanda is the stealthy cynic who is more than happy to question the motive and logic behind the fact that G.H. and Ruth have rented out a house that they have now returned to.

There is a suspense here that is interesting and although the dialogue is sometimes a little clumsily predictable, it is alive and well thanks to brilliant deliveries by all the actors, especially Julia Roberts who does a fantastic job here. Her presence and credibility is brilliant while Ethan Hawke's gullible and withdrawn Clay tries to mediate, which he does very well too. Moonlight actor Mahershala Ali (now set to portray Blade in upcoming Marvel films) is also good as the tolerant, intelligent G.H. and the interplay between all of them works brilliantly.

The world is falling apart a few miles away from the house where both families are trying to get along and as a character study this film is interesting if a bit superficial. What do you do when phones, internet, radio and TV stop working, planes fall from the sky and freighters run aground in the bay outside the summer house? Do you turn to each other? Lock the doors and windows? Pull out the guns? Leave the World Behind is an apocalypse film that focuses on the panic, the preparation, the uncertainty and the questions rather than the war, the virus or the breakdown of society itself - and it works very well because of this focus.

For me, I recognise a good thriller when the day after I still think about what happened and feel a curiosity about what will happen to the characters after the credits roll, and this film made me feel that way. The character development gets a bit shallow at times and there are themes here that director Sam Esmail could have definitely delved into, but it's good, regardless. Along with Fincher's The Killer, this is one of the most enjoyable Netflix premieres of the year.