Atlas Shrugged II critique by LetsShrug
First of all I want to send out a HUGE thank you to EVERY person involved in bringing Atlas Shrugged to the big screen, especially right now when so many need to be awakened. NOW is the time and you've nailed it! So thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!
I was only disappointed in one thing while watching this movie: The size of the audience. Granted it was a 10:10am showing on a weekday (Friday), but I had really hoped for a bigger bunch of producers to show up. We were there with approx 60 others.
I didn't expect the movie to begin with the flight/chase scene, and for a split second I questioned that decision, but then I realized that it sucked in the viewer, making them thirsty for answers for who, what, why, where, and when is this happening? Brilliant!
I think a great job was done to tie in the details from the previous chapter (part I). Just a few words here and there were enough for the first time viewer to catch up with the present events.
The speeches: Hank Rearden in court, and Francisco d'Anconia at James and Cherryl's wedding, were cut incredibly short, but the main points were still made.
The new cast members, although older, were well cast. Particularly Patrick Fabian (James Taggart), and Kim Rhodes (Lillian Rearden).
The “bum” on the train's character was completely changed, the snowstorm, when the train stalled, was left out, and Dagny made her way to the airport, (where she buys a plane to fly to Utah to try and catch Quentin Daniels), in a truck, rather than on foot, but again, it didn't diminish the story line.
I am left with only one question. I know this is petty, ridiculous, silly, and unimportant, but I have to ask. In the part where Dagny is at their family cabin and she's cleaning up and chucking things off the front porch she heaved/dragged a perfectly good (as far as I could tell) adirondack chair into the front yard. Why? What was wrong with that chair? Okay, okay, it was HER chair she can throw it in the junk pile if she wants to...it just bugged me a little. I know I'm just nitpicking, but I wasn't convinced that she was “cleaning” at that point. I liked that chair. :(
All in all the movie is a MUST-SEE and I will tell everybody I know to go see it and I hope it has a tremendous turn out. We need it.
I was only disappointed in one thing while watching this movie: The size of the audience. Granted it was a 10:10am showing on a weekday (Friday), but I had really hoped for a bigger bunch of producers to show up. We were there with approx 60 others.
I didn't expect the movie to begin with the flight/chase scene, and for a split second I questioned that decision, but then I realized that it sucked in the viewer, making them thirsty for answers for who, what, why, where, and when is this happening? Brilliant!
I think a great job was done to tie in the details from the previous chapter (part I). Just a few words here and there were enough for the first time viewer to catch up with the present events.
The speeches: Hank Rearden in court, and Francisco d'Anconia at James and Cherryl's wedding, were cut incredibly short, but the main points were still made.
The new cast members, although older, were well cast. Particularly Patrick Fabian (James Taggart), and Kim Rhodes (Lillian Rearden).
The “bum” on the train's character was completely changed, the snowstorm, when the train stalled, was left out, and Dagny made her way to the airport, (where she buys a plane to fly to Utah to try and catch Quentin Daniels), in a truck, rather than on foot, but again, it didn't diminish the story line.
I am left with only one question. I know this is petty, ridiculous, silly, and unimportant, but I have to ask. In the part where Dagny is at their family cabin and she's cleaning up and chucking things off the front porch she heaved/dragged a perfectly good (as far as I could tell) adirondack chair into the front yard. Why? What was wrong with that chair? Okay, okay, it was HER chair she can throw it in the junk pile if she wants to...it just bugged me a little. I know I'm just nitpicking, but I wasn't convinced that she was “cleaning” at that point. I liked that chair. :(
All in all the movie is a MUST-SEE and I will tell everybody I know to go see it and I hope it has a tremendous turn out. We need it.
well, some day I will see it. should I praise it like Obama without knowing the contents?
One thing that got me was the office in New York having instaneous information on the "smoker". There was no passing of responsibility down to the lowest of the low. But then, how does one show cluelessness in the time allotted for that scene. At least the "vacation" was mentioned. AND... the phones always worked! Even in the book there was phone trouble!
The speeches were another disappointment to me. Until I realized that 'sisco's speech is a full 18 minutes, and the trial would have been 10. Still, the Fountainhead kept Roark's speech more in the forefront. Another side item; I just watched "The Men who built America" on the history channel. The parallels between John D. Rockefeller and Rearden are striking! Not that I trust the history channel all that much...
I originally did not like changing the cast. If Harry Potter could keep 'em... I thought Mathis an even trade for Schilling, with different strengths. But I did like Jason Beghe and Richard T. Jones. Eddie is way out of the book, to the point of losing the story line. I wish Robert Picardo would have been Dr. Robert Stadler all along. The story line carried though.
All in all, the movie was great. The flight scene was a nice bonus. John's plane was really cool. I was thinking "Hey, don't throw that chair out" too. Thanks to "THE STRIKE" PRODUCTIONS for their efforts and commitment to this project!
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