3 reasons a Rapture thriller could be fantastic for secular audiences
If this film were done as more of a thriller, it could tap a new vein of apocalypse thrillers--one where only some people, but not most, disappear. I consider this film currently more of a family-friendly movie because the sappy acting and musical score (especially in the first 20 minutes) wasn't remotely thriller-like.
1) Other threads have already taken up the issue of how non-believers would handle God being proved real in the most bold of ways. Anyone like me would be angry, and instead of coming around and believing and repenting, we'd be just as resentful at being forced to believe in God as we would have been before the Rapture. I don't want religion, even if I see for certain God is real. So a movie could treat the realistic coming-to-terms secular society would have with this new reality, including how firm believers would respond to Rapture when they find themselves left behind--would they become zealots, or lose faith? Would devout persons war with those who remain determined to oppose God's will?
2) People would have to contend with the heavy loss of family and friends. In thrillers where most people die from the flu, zombie attack, etc., there would be such a shock for survivors that they psychologically set the pain aside and have to focus on survival. If survival isn't a problem because only 30% or so of people have disappeared, recovery would be a real challenge for the rest of us who just lost parents and children and this could be a compelling component of even a thriller or horror movie.
3) I love movies that depict how people contend with the immediate breakdown of infrastructure, like how in World War Z we see the beginnings of apocalypse--police barricades overrun, news channels suddenly going to static. Usually in these movies so many people die that infrastructure is entirely gone with no hope of rebuilding, so people have to hoard their gasoline and Pringles. But if only 30% of people disappear (or 60%, or whatever), what happens, immediately and in the long run? We do see looting in Left Behind, but what kind of leadership would emerge, how would politics be affected, how do people contend with much-needed personnel disappearing from utility companies for example? I'd love to see more realistic portrayals of this scenario in a thriller movie--especially when you consider the God element. What does God do next?
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Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the War Room!"--Pres. Merkin Muffley