Left Behind 2: Tribulation Force Reviews

If Left Behind laid the groundwork for preachiness, without fully resorting to it, Left Behind II: Tribulation Force revels in unbridled proselytizing -- the kind that rallies the faithful and makes the skeptics squirm. Whereas the first film was relatively mild, its sequel has that brainwashing quality that gives fundamentalist Christians a bad name. Over the course of the narrative, not only does Kirk Cameron's assistant, a sarcastic atheist, accept Christ as her savior, but so does a world-famous rabbi theologian. And therein lies the problem. The Left Behind films and novels may not be anti-Semitic in the traditional sense, portraying the Jewish characters as evil, but they do view the Jews as potential Christians who haven't yet been converted. It's a righteous, condescending viewpoint, and it may actually be a worse injustice. Beyond this notable slouch toward fringe ideologies, Left Behind II is a far less clear movie than its predecessor. The plot revolves around the ambiguous symbolism of two men standing by Jerusalem's Wailing Wall, breathing fire as proof of Christ's status as the messiah, and how the ascension of the Antichrist hangs in the balance. Playing that Antichrist, Gordon Currie is a standout, exuding casual menace as the U.N. secretary general who seeks to unite the world as a means of controlling it. There's a moment of cool F/X when Brad Johnson's character sees the villain morph into his true devilish incarnation. This kind of thinking throughout might have made it more of a movie and less of an oppressive Christian lesson.