In this episode, Reba and Tandy review two Netflix films that both touch on matters of national security.
The first, Interceptor, iswas produced from an original screenplay by Australians Matthew Reilly and Stuart Beattie from a original story by Reilly. Reiily also directed the film, which had a budget of 15 million dollars.
Elsa Pataky stars as an American Army Captain who has a dream job in the nation’s capital. When she reports that she has been the victim of sexual harassment, her complaint is swept under the carpet, and she is transferred to a remote interceptor facility in the Pacific ocean. There she encounters a turncoat intent on wreaking nuclear havoc on the US mainland with 16 stolen Russian ICBMs. Elsa is the nation’s last line of defense. Can she save the day?
The second film on Reba and Tandy’s list is Leave the World Behind, adapted by writer-director Sam Esmail from the novel by the same name. The novel, by Rumaan Alam, was a finalist for the National Book Award.
A mystery thriller with dystopian elements, it was published during the Covid pandemic. Former President Barack Obama included it in his summer list. Netflix won the rights in a bidding war. It was produced under the auspices of Michelle and Barack Obama’s Netflix production company, Higher Ground, as well as Julia Roberts’s company, Red Om.
Roberts stars in the film joined Hollywood A-Listers Ethan Hawke, Kevin Bacon, Mahershala Ali, and up-and-coming sensation Myha’la of TV’s Succession.
What trouble is afoot in Leave the World Behind? Is the country the object of a massive cyberattack? Who can you trust. The movie audience and the film’s characters all encounter unfolding events at the same time.