Sam Esmail’s “Left” is his first directorial effort since “Mr. Robot” ended, and despite causing some divisiveness among viewers, it remains Netflix’s most-watched original right now.
The star-studded apocalyptic thriller was well-received by critics, earning a 75% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, but many subscribers who watched it from start to finish seemed less than enthusiastic; rating 35%, More than 2,500 votes were cast. The situation looks even more positive if we turn to other famous movie sites such as IMDb or Letterboxd, where the film received a rating of 6.6/10 on the former and 3.1/5 on the latter. That’s a decent rating for a Netflix movie, but it’s the real ratings that propelled it to the top.
As of this writing, Leave the World Behind has held the No. 1 streaming spot for almost a full week in most territories where the platform is available. Additionally, it’s currently even more popular than Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon, which is now available digitally on Apple TV. Even if people don’t review the movie very highly, the hype and impressive cast of Sam Esmail seem to be enough to grab the attention of millions of viewers.
“Leaving the World Behind,” adapted from Ruman Alam’s 2020 novel, tells the story of the gradual collapse of telephones, televisions, and other commonly used technologies, all pointing to potentially catastrophic events. With the current real world looking like a mess and the future sounding pretty bleak, it’s no wonder people want to seek catharsis or embrace a doom mentality by consuming apocalyptic novels. We are strange creatures.
“Left” stars Julia Roberts, Ethan Hawke, Mihala, Farrah McKenzie, Charlie Evans, Kevin Bacon and Mahershala Ali. The latter recently provided an update on Marvel Studios’ long-troubled Blade reboot, which he hopes will begin filming early next year.
