Posted on 04/15/2011 1:31:44 PM PDT by RobFromGa
Atlas Shrugged Part 1 Quick Review- 5 stars!
Very faithful to Rand's ideas. I didn't feel like they skipped any major items... the back story with Francisco was hinted at and would have been too hard to develop completely.
Casting was superb. Hank (Hooray!) and Lillian (Boo!)Rearden and Ellis Wyatt (!!!) were done perfectly as was Wesley Mouch and the other moochers and looters. Dagny was good but it took about ten minutes for me to completely buy her in the role.
Pace was perfect... it kept moving at a fast speed, and I didn't want it to end.
Cinematography very good- hard to believe only cost about $5 million! The Rearden Metal bridge was great, as was the Colorado landscape shots...
Audience Reaction: Duluth, GA 12:25pm showing was about 80% full (there was noon showing in a larger theater already going) & audience reacted with enthusiasm throughout and Applause at end.
Can't wait for Part 2! I will be going back to see Part One more than once...
Minor nitpick- shouldn't have had the date 2016 on the movie, it is timeless.
Are you talking about “1984?”
That was George Orwell.
Hank
Rand lost creds when she got too prescriptive.
Have you heard the Century Motors Youtube audio?
I posted it on a non-political site, and it grabbed a lot of attention. Comments ranged from, we are headed that way, to, we already are that way.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCmJUobwKQk
Am I wrong or was Francisco’s money speech at the anniversary party? If so, I think an abbreviated version should have been included in the film. It would have conveyed a lot of Rand’s philosophy, and with a running time of just over an hour and forty minutes, wouldn’t have made the film that much longer.
All in all, I enjoyed the film and share other reviewers’ feelings of pride at watching the Galt line speed over the bridge.
The casting of Hank was well done and I began to believe the actress as Dagny by the end. The casting of her brother was an odd choice, I thought... Too young and handsome.
Although I share some slight optimism of being able to correct the course of our country, I fear that most of our citizens would watch this movie and agree with Wesley Mouch about the “unfair” distribution of wealth and resources. That we are already beyond the brink and the only way that we can get our country back is to “go Galt” and let the current system collapse.
The Rearden Metal bridge produced gasps from the small audience. It was the one shot of true beauty in the film.
Also, I was left feeling that those not familiar with the book will have a hard time following since the timeline is so compressed and a lot is glossed over.
I haven’t read the book — but I “got” the film completely.
Of course, it was a low budget production, w/ the lesser known actors ...but the message came through loud and clear. I thought it was very entertaining — can’t wait to see part 2.
I just hope it doesn’t come “true” in our country ...I certainly hope it wakes up some of the sheep ...but doubtful.
Much of the dialogue was verbatim from the book. One line that made me cringe was Dagny's "I studied engineering in college." I didn't think this was a strong enough response to James's skepticism about whether she could judge the qualities of Rearden Metal. Sure enough, those exact words are in the book. If I were screenwriter, I would have changed it to something like "I'm an engineer", or "I was an engineer before this job", or "I studied materials engineering in graduate school".
Saw it today—first time in a movie theatre in several years. I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. Pleasantly surprised at the production value for a low budget film. Thought Dagny and Hank were well-cast. My thought was it should have been done as an HBO film or something similar, a new episode each night over a period of week. That would have given the time needed to cover the story better. I didn’t care for the way it ended, knowing it may well be a year or so before Part II is released...
“...all the political statements and philosophies will be reserved for a movie that hopefully will come out just before the 2012 Presidential election...”
Well, I think they’ve blown it on the timing, a bit. They will release Part Two April 15, 2012. Too early to be relevant to a November election. And Part Three won’t come out until after the election in 2013. I’d be happier if they could bring in the timing so Part Two could be seen in Jan - Feb 2012 early in the Primary Season, and Part Three fresh before the election, maybe mid-Oct 2012. I think that timing would have enough influence to lock out a RINO from the GOP nomination, and Part Three show the stark difference between Obama and whoever steps up for the GOP.
Great find, thanks. To me, that testimony by Jeff Allen has always been the most poignant of the entire book.
“It actually shows very little depth. The Creator isn’t an after thought...it should be the first thought as one wakes up in the morning with...anything less is a rather surface individual that hasn’t a real clue what it’s all about. “
It seems like you are putting God in a box. If God wants to use an atheist or anyone else to deliver a message or prod his people, he will.
4/15/12...363 days and counting (leap year ;^().
Got some free time today....gonna mail my IRS check, then go DIRECTLY across town to the only screen in Colorado Springs where this is showing.
I thought Jodie Foster would’ve made a good Dagny, too.
Just went to see the movie tonight. I thought it was well done (Actually, spectacular for the money spent on it and the time frame it was produced in)
I’ll see the next one when it comes out...
My brother and I both felt Dagny was too feminine. She needed to have a harder, more angular face, and the woman who played her had a round, feminine face with eyes too open and wide. But she did okay. Reardon was very good.
I can’t remember the description of Ellis Wyatt, but I found the actor believable as a Western oil-man. And his delivery of the last line in the movie was perfect.
"...The man who entered was a stranger. He was young, tall and something about him suggested violence, though she could not say what it was, because the first trait one grasped about him was a quality of self-control that seemed almost arrogant. He had dark eyes, disheveled hair, and his clothes were expensive, but worn as if he did not care or notice what he wore..."
Just so long as Lewis doesn’t reprise that lunatic he played in “There Will Be Milkshakes.”
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