Movie Review: Atlas Shrugged Pt1
Posted by Itheliving 12 years, 11 months ago to Movies
Atlas Shrugged Part 1 / Rated PG-13 for language and sexuality
Who is John Galt? All who have read Ayn Rand’s magnificent 1200 page novel know the answer. She wrote about heroes and villains in stories set in philosophical issues. If you are unfamiliar with her novels you can always check out the 1949 film “The Fountainhead” which features Gary Cooper and Patricia Neal in a movie similar in many ways to ASP1 with the underlying subjects being architecture, newspaper publishing and public opinion. Should you see ASP1 based on the first third of the novel? Yes, but it would help if you have already read the novel. The movie is assumptive. It assumes you know the answer to the most important question of the novel.
As the film opens we witness an event where a shadowy stranger approaches a character named Midas Mulligan. They have a secret conversation and then we see an on screen tag that says “Midas Mulligan: Vanished on a date in 2016”. Unless you know who MM was and why he vanished you are going to be confused by the storyline. At least for the first 30 minutes. Since we don’t know who these characters are or why they are talking we have no idea why one of them would vanish.
This portion of the story centers on two business people, Henry “Hank” Reardon and Dagny Taggart. He is a metals genius and business success story. She is the co-owner of a family railroad system that is having issues. They need each other. What follows is a story about heroes, villains and moral issues. The heroes are business people of integrity and vision. The villains are government bureaucrats who want to be in control of the heroes and cannot emulate their accomplishments. They pass laws and regulate like crazy but always in the interest of “the people”.
In the background is John Galt. Who is he? What is going on? Why do business people keep disappearing?
This movie has been optioned numerous times for the last 40 years or so but never filmed before now. No large studio wanted to take on the project because of the political subject matter of which most of them disapprove and the big budget to bring a story this long and involved to fruition.
So does it work? Who is John Galt? Again, this story assumes you know what’s going on and have a familiarity with the novel. Otherwise count on at least 30 minutes of getting all caught up.
Although made on a relatively low budget estimated to be between 15 and 20 million dollars the film looks amazingly rich with lush backgrounds. The computer generated effects are remarkable. They do not involve anyone shooting at or chasing anyone else. There is no slasher at work and Will Ferrell is not on hand hamming it up. The only laughs are those that happen due to the inescapable irony of the government shenanigans as they try to exercise control of the American populace especially the most innovative among us. The cast of mostly “unknowns” are all excellent. The actor playing John Galt is also the films director. The character of John Galt is only seen minimally and always with the face hidden. He will emerge as the series continues.
This is a movie that could make a big splash at the box office. It’s original opening was not in every State and only consisted of screenings in 300 theaters. By contrast the 2 big movies of the weekend “Rio“, the kiddy computer generated comedy and ‘Scream 4” an attempt to make more money by carving up teens both opened in over 3 thousand theaters each. ASP1 is looking to find an audience an expand it’s showings. The other 2 are trying to make a quick big bucks return and return again, in one case as “Rio 2” and the other “Scream 5“. I am hoping for Atlas Shrugged 2 and 3 to make it over the next 2 years as the filmmakers have planned. Maybe a combination of the Rio and Scream storylines would be interesting. They could call it “Screaming Rio“ followed by “Screaming Rio 2”.
This is a compelling film and many of the financial, social and political events Ayn Rand predicted in 1957 and shown in this film are taking place today. If you are wavering at checking it out please don’t. There is one scene near the end of the film which features a train ride and utilizing Elias Cmiral’s fine score and theme this one scene has an emotional impact and exhilaration that is worth the cost of admission alone.
Rated 3.5 out of 4 reasons that unless you have read Atlas Shrugged you may have to wait two more years for the answer to the question “Who is John Galt?” If you can’t wait here is a simple answer. He is a hero.
Who is John Galt? All who have read Ayn Rand’s magnificent 1200 page novel know the answer. She wrote about heroes and villains in stories set in philosophical issues. If you are unfamiliar with her novels you can always check out the 1949 film “The Fountainhead” which features Gary Cooper and Patricia Neal in a movie similar in many ways to ASP1 with the underlying subjects being architecture, newspaper publishing and public opinion. Should you see ASP1 based on the first third of the novel? Yes, but it would help if you have already read the novel. The movie is assumptive. It assumes you know the answer to the most important question of the novel.
As the film opens we witness an event where a shadowy stranger approaches a character named Midas Mulligan. They have a secret conversation and then we see an on screen tag that says “Midas Mulligan: Vanished on a date in 2016”. Unless you know who MM was and why he vanished you are going to be confused by the storyline. At least for the first 30 minutes. Since we don’t know who these characters are or why they are talking we have no idea why one of them would vanish.
This portion of the story centers on two business people, Henry “Hank” Reardon and Dagny Taggart. He is a metals genius and business success story. She is the co-owner of a family railroad system that is having issues. They need each other. What follows is a story about heroes, villains and moral issues. The heroes are business people of integrity and vision. The villains are government bureaucrats who want to be in control of the heroes and cannot emulate their accomplishments. They pass laws and regulate like crazy but always in the interest of “the people”.
In the background is John Galt. Who is he? What is going on? Why do business people keep disappearing?
This movie has been optioned numerous times for the last 40 years or so but never filmed before now. No large studio wanted to take on the project because of the political subject matter of which most of them disapprove and the big budget to bring a story this long and involved to fruition.
So does it work? Who is John Galt? Again, this story assumes you know what’s going on and have a familiarity with the novel. Otherwise count on at least 30 minutes of getting all caught up.
Although made on a relatively low budget estimated to be between 15 and 20 million dollars the film looks amazingly rich with lush backgrounds. The computer generated effects are remarkable. They do not involve anyone shooting at or chasing anyone else. There is no slasher at work and Will Ferrell is not on hand hamming it up. The only laughs are those that happen due to the inescapable irony of the government shenanigans as they try to exercise control of the American populace especially the most innovative among us. The cast of mostly “unknowns” are all excellent. The actor playing John Galt is also the films director. The character of John Galt is only seen minimally and always with the face hidden. He will emerge as the series continues.
This is a movie that could make a big splash at the box office. It’s original opening was not in every State and only consisted of screenings in 300 theaters. By contrast the 2 big movies of the weekend “Rio“, the kiddy computer generated comedy and ‘Scream 4” an attempt to make more money by carving up teens both opened in over 3 thousand theaters each. ASP1 is looking to find an audience an expand it’s showings. The other 2 are trying to make a quick big bucks return and return again, in one case as “Rio 2” and the other “Scream 5“. I am hoping for Atlas Shrugged 2 and 3 to make it over the next 2 years as the filmmakers have planned. Maybe a combination of the Rio and Scream storylines would be interesting. They could call it “Screaming Rio“ followed by “Screaming Rio 2”.
This is a compelling film and many of the financial, social and political events Ayn Rand predicted in 1957 and shown in this film are taking place today. If you are wavering at checking it out please don’t. There is one scene near the end of the film which features a train ride and utilizing Elias Cmiral’s fine score and theme this one scene has an emotional impact and exhilaration that is worth the cost of admission alone.
Rated 3.5 out of 4 reasons that unless you have read Atlas Shrugged you may have to wait two more years for the answer to the question “Who is John Galt?” If you can’t wait here is a simple answer. He is a hero.
