The tension is breathless and well-constructed, but since they begin with the dial at eleven, there is nowhere to go throughout the film’s exhausting 140 minutes.

The end of the world is always a valuable thought experiment; it makes us start asking important questions. Alam’s book wondered: “What if?” But Esmail’s movie mostly wants to know: “How come?”

We’re not in control, but Sam Esmail is of his startling, character-driven doomsday story about what happens when there’s the very real possibility everything is about to end.

Despite its slow pace and a somewhat simplistic, repetitive message about the digital age, Leave the World Behind remains an intriguing and formally striking film, thanks to Esmail’s stylised eye. [Full Review in Spanish]