"Atlas Shrugged - Part I"
Trailer here.
Surprisingly good.
Best achievement? Avoiding the visual and technical anachronisms inherent in a literal rendering of the original. The film is set in 2016 and it was, to me at least, completely credible on that point.
Second-best? Casting unknown actors who do a workmanlike job in the roles of Dagny, Hank Rearden, James Taggert, Wesley Mouch, and others.
Final noteworthy accomplishment? Compressing Rand's material into a dramatically-brief Part I without losing the essential spirit of the novel.
Now, if I hadn't read the book, I am not sure if I would have been able to follow the movie's events.
But for those who have read the original, you'll give it (I hope) at least the "B" I give it tonight.
BTW, if you wait for the video, you'll lose some nice full-theatre-screen exterior shots of the John Galt Line blasting across the gorgeous Colorado countryside in fall.
But that's all you'll lose.
posted by Concerned American | 3:32 AM
7 Comments:
I gotta disagree.
Waiting for the video could lose us *ALL* seeing the other 2 parts made.
I think one of the most important things we can do is go drop the bucks and sit through this movie.
Twice, even.
If this does well, more like it will get made -- and *THAT* **WILL** be good for what remains of America!
DD
I saw Part 1 on Sunday, 4/17. It was very good, especially considering that it was made outside of the Hollyweird Studio system and on a tiny budget.
Most of the actors nailed the characters IMHO - especially Grant Bowler as Rearden and Taylor Schilling as Dagny (although somehow I always saw Dagny as a brunette, not a blond....don't recall how Rand described her right now - another reason to re-read it).
My main complaint is it was too short and over too quickly. I pine for more......reckon I'll have to wait for 4/15/2012 and 4/15/2013.
I watched it yesterday afternoon. I was pleasantly surprised that it showed here, for a while it looked like it would come no closer than Pensacola. With gas at $4, it would make a trip to the movies extra-expensive.
I too, give it a B. But if you haven't read the book, you'd better.
DD: You are dead on. Didn't even think of that.
Will attend again and send others.
While the book is just horrible (bunk objectivism) and poorly written, this movie is just complete garbage.
Ethan:
That's one helluva analysis.
Or did you mean it as parody?
I also agree with DD.
I pretty much never go see movies in the theaters any longer, but we made an exception for this.
To be honest though, the person I went with did not see the relevance to their own life. But they do not see and purposefully do not look at what is going on around them.
In fact, later in the day I got "I don't want to know, I don't want to work at anything".
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