Leave The World Behind Cyberview

Common sense cybersecurity breakdown with unrelated spoilers.

Leave The World Behind, starring Julia Roberts, Mahershala Ali, Ethan Hawke, Myha’la and Kevin Bacon is based upon the 2020 apocalyptic novel by Rumaan Alam about race and class.

When an idyllic getaway suddenly erupts into chaos, trust unravels fast. A family's getaway to a luxurious rental home takes an ominous turn when a cyberattack knocks out their devices — and two strangers appear at their door.

A glimpse of a CNN map and iPhone news alerts are the only mention of cyberattack that is quickly recognized as implausible and irrelevant to most of the movie.

Psychological Thriller

Supposedly with a sci-fi spin for the big screen and beyond using the words "cyberattack", the Netflix movie makes huge leaps about how people would react that quickly fall apart with even a basic understanding of technology.

While #1 on Netflix for a few weeks, the film leverages carefree blue and uncertain red like M. Night Shyamalan to change the mood amidst the backdrop of morphing pictures and controversial identity politics.

However, it is a dark and strange film of satanic symbolism and conspiracy theories while featuring masturbation and vaping.

If you stop to question the premise of the movie or various scenes, you'll quickly understand it's not believable.

Oil Tanker and Starbucks

As a kid growing up in Preston, Oklahoma, my mother's family were all from New York and we'd spend summers roaming New York City and hanging out at Jones Beach on Long Island. You couldn't go too far out in the water without a lifeguard yelling at you or signaling about distant boats.

If a GPS (Global Positioning System) fails on an oil tanker, the captain and the crew have several alternative navigation methods and safety measures to rely on using tools such as charts, compasses, and sextants. For a large ship, there are Emergency Response procedures and drills for manual operations and dropping anchor.

Beyond the startling red oil tanker and potential meaning to the ship name "White Lion", the family drives to get a latte at Starbucks that apparently has both power and the ability to process credit cards? Even though smartphones and tablets have no Internet, all homes seem to have power with working appliances. The existence of electricity for everyone, even though the world is supposedly without power is oddly glossed over.

Deer, Havana Syndrome, Planes, and Tesla

While rebooting the router wasn't tried to bring the Internet back at the Airbnb house, some of the thousands of deer came to stare and an occasional piercing sound would make people fall to their knees. The hero character G.H. goes to a neighbor's house to find planes inexplicably crashing into the beach because pilots also can't fly without radar. It's hinted that satellites are down, but supposedly Iranian hackers crash remote controlled Tesla's into snarled traffic and autonomously pilot a drone over 6,377 miles.

None of the above matters as the main characters go home to dance to old records played on the electric powered stereo.

Fake Theory and Prepping

Like Socialism has never worked in the history of the world, there's never been isolation and synchronized chaos (which is not a standard term) used to cause civil war in any country. Those made-up concepts are all meant to instill fear and division - and possibly convince people to boost the failing economy. As the odd little girl looks around this huge bunker, you see a computer running a mockup of DOS displaying a government Emergency Broadcast bulletin board over a modem.

Ruth then is mesmerized by all the DVDs and plays the final episode of Friends, while we assume the rest of the characters eventually find and join her. I speak fluent movie quotes and was disappointed with this flick because it was more horror with politics and virtually nothing to do with sci-fi or cyber. With decades of experience in technology and business, the one thing I agree with is that most Americans are woefully naive about how technology works and unprepared for anything unexpected.

Viewers have given the film 34% positive user feedback on Rotten Tomatoes.

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