Waikato Herald
  • Waikato Herald home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Rural
  • Lifestyle
  • Lotto results

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Lifestyle
  • Lotto results

Locations

  • Hamilton
  • Coromandel & Hauraki
  • Matamata & Piako
  • Cambridge
  • Te Awamutu
  • Tokoroa & South Waikato
  • Taupō & Tūrangi

Weather

  • Thames
  • Hamilton
  • Tokoroa
  • Taumarunui
  • Taupō

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Waikato News / Reviews

Film review: Leave the World Behind

Jen Shieff
By Jen Shieff
Film reviewer·Waikato Herald·
28 Dec, 2023 01:30 AM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save
    Share this article
Leave the World Behind boasts a stellar cast including (left to right) Mahershala Ali, Myha'la Herrold, Julia Roberts and Ethan Hawke.

Leave the World Behind boasts a stellar cast including (left to right) Mahershala Ali, Myha'la Herrold, Julia Roberts and Ethan Hawke.

Jen Shieff
Review by Jen ShieffLearn more

Leave the World Behind (R, 138 mins). Streaming on Netflix.

Directed by Sam Esmail.

Will we see real estate advertisements for houses with bunkers sometime soon?

Leave the World Behind, with its version of the catastrophic end of civilisation, makes them seem an attractive addition to any home.

The final scene of the film is set in a bunker - a luxurious one.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Michelle and Barack Obama, executive producers of Leave the World Behind, probably have their very own just like it, no doubt being very aware of the grim reality of existential threats like the ones the film presents us with; threats from a nameless enemy that may well be a collaboration of all the foreign countries which have ever had bad relations with the United States.

New York advertising executive Amanda (Julia Roberts, doing anxiety and world-weariness superbly) has, on the spur of the moment, rented a large house on Long Island for a getaway weekend for herself and her family - husband Clay (Ethan Hawke, a calm but blinkered foil for Amanda’s near-hysteria), their daughter Rose (Farrah Mackenzie, now 18, acting in film and TV roles since she was 5 - one to watch) and her girl-ogling son Archie (Charlie Evans in his first film role).

They get to Long Island happily enough but have a bad first day, culminating in a black father and daughter, GH (Mahershala Ali) and Ruth (Myha’la Herrold), knocking at the door in the middle of the first night.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Amanda is afraid of them, not because they’re black, but because everything is becoming weird.

Earlier that day, an enormous cargo ship literally crashed into the local beach, causing Amanda and her family to run for their lives.

That night, the Wi-Fi disappears, there’s no news, no phones and it gets noisy.

Soon, something nuclear seems to strike, distrust creeps in, coping skills creep out, nobody knows how to protect themselves, there’s literally nowhere safe to go and Archie needs the doctor.

Rose finds a beautifully equipped bunker with supplies to last for years, with Wi-Fi, world news and, best of all, a library of DVDs, which delights her because now, at last, she can see what happens in the finale of her favourite TV series, Friends, which is more real for her than even her parents.

Rose loves the people in Friends beyond anything. She seems fine, but what about everyone else?

Comparing it with recent Netflix apocalypse movies, particularly Bird Box (2018), Don’t Look Up (2021) and White Noise (2022), Leave the World Behind stands out as the best of the four.

Julia Roberts and Ethan Hawke, and even Kevin Bacon in a cameo role as Danny, a sort of God character, all get out of the glow of their own stardom.

The plot, based on Rumaan Alam’s acclaimed novel, is believable, while its script, co-written by director Sam Esmail, is understated, making the characters real.

An occasionally overbearing soundtrack is a weak point.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Leave the World Behind is spectacular and really well-acted, with just enough White Lotus-type humour to make audiences take it less seriously than they otherwise might.

Nevertheless, take it seriously we must.

Highly recommended

Movies are rated: Avoid, Recommended, Highly recommended and Must-see.

Stay up to date with the Waikato Herald

Get the latest Waikato headlines straight to your inbox Monday to Saturday. Register for free today - click here and choose Local News.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.


Save
    Share this article

Latest from Waikato News

Waikato Herald

Police station fire no longer considered suspicious

Waikato Herald

Weekend weather: Desert Rd reopens as winter blast arrives with snow and showers

Waikato Herald

Auction shocks: Auckland buyers pay over RV for neighbouring Coromandel baches


Sponsored

Revealed: The night driving ‘red flag’

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Waikato News

Police station fire no longer considered suspicious
Waikato Herald

Police station fire no longer considered suspicious

The fire – which destroyed a cop car and garage – was initially treated as suspicious.

09 Aug 12:03 AM
Weekend weather: Desert Rd reopens as winter blast arrives with snow and showers
Waikato Herald

Weekend weather: Desert Rd reopens as winter blast arrives with snow and showers

08 Aug 10:21 PM
Auction shocks: Auckland buyers pay over RV for neighbouring Coromandel baches
Waikato Herald

Auction shocks: Auckland buyers pay over RV for neighbouring Coromandel baches

08 Aug 08:13 PM


Revealed: The night driving ‘red flag’
Sponsored

Revealed: The night driving ‘red flag’

04 Aug 11:37 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Waikato Herald e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Waikato Herald
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP