Atlas Shrugged was AWESOME
Hella late, but here's my review of the new Atlas Shrugged movie:
After the massive disappointment that was Gary Cooper's Fountainhead, it is so nice to have an Ayn Rand movie that is actually awesome. A lot of critics called it a nonentity but that couldn't be further from the truth. They get the regressive future vibe perfectly, halfway to a dystopia but still with a lot of the trappings of the civilization we're familiar with. The casting was glorious; the actors weren't too perfect at all, which I was a little worried about when I was hearing things about Angelina Jolie playing Dagny Taggart and Brad Pitt playing John Galt. Not that I didn't love that Angelina was interested and stuff, but Rand's characters should not be well-known actors imho. They should be their own faces. Rearden was especially well-cast.
I couldn't believe it was low-budget. The visuals were so, so gorgeous. There are some really phenomenal aerial shots of the American landscape that particularly got to me. The plot had really excellent momentum, especially given what an incredibly complex book it was. I was actually very impressed with the script; they cut out so much and left all the really important stuff intact, which was rare, and was always going to be the biggest problem. They also cut down a lot of the long/repetitive bits, which are good and important in the novel, but obviously needed to be taken out for the movie; nonetheless, every point made was very powerful. I really liked Dagny's conversation with the Railroad Workers' Union representative, although I did think that "You want me to provide these men with jobs, and you want to make it impossible for me to have any jobs to provide" could have been stated a little clearer as I feel like a lot of people (the entire student body of my history class, for example) wouldn't have seen anything wrong with the Union rep's demands. I'm not sure how it could have been made clearer while still being punchy, though, so maybe it wasn't a problem. Everything else was wonderful.
And I cried when the John Galt train went over the bridge. I straight up cried.
In short, GO SEE THIS MOVIE ALREADY OH MY GOD IT'S SO GOOD. You can find out if it's playing near you here, and you can demand that it should be played near you here. Also, if you happen to live in California, which I don't, sob, there's a bunch of fucking awesome events like an Ellis Wyatt press conference, and a party hosted by Francisco D'Anconia (AAH) today and tomorrow which you can check out here. Please spread word about the existence and awesomeness of this movie, because it is a good movie and really deserves praise and the mainstream media is avoiding it or even actively trying to damage its potential success.
Also, if anybody wants to go see it with me, I am BEYOND game. I'll buy popcorn.
After the massive disappointment that was Gary Cooper's Fountainhead, it is so nice to have an Ayn Rand movie that is actually awesome. A lot of critics called it a nonentity but that couldn't be further from the truth. They get the regressive future vibe perfectly, halfway to a dystopia but still with a lot of the trappings of the civilization we're familiar with. The casting was glorious; the actors weren't too perfect at all, which I was a little worried about when I was hearing things about Angelina Jolie playing Dagny Taggart and Brad Pitt playing John Galt. Not that I didn't love that Angelina was interested and stuff, but Rand's characters should not be well-known actors imho. They should be their own faces. Rearden was especially well-cast.
I couldn't believe it was low-budget. The visuals were so, so gorgeous. There are some really phenomenal aerial shots of the American landscape that particularly got to me. The plot had really excellent momentum, especially given what an incredibly complex book it was. I was actually very impressed with the script; they cut out so much and left all the really important stuff intact, which was rare, and was always going to be the biggest problem. They also cut down a lot of the long/repetitive bits, which are good and important in the novel, but obviously needed to be taken out for the movie; nonetheless, every point made was very powerful. I really liked Dagny's conversation with the Railroad Workers' Union representative, although I did think that "You want me to provide these men with jobs, and you want to make it impossible for me to have any jobs to provide" could have been stated a little clearer as I feel like a lot of people (the entire student body of my history class, for example) wouldn't have seen anything wrong with the Union rep's demands. I'm not sure how it could have been made clearer while still being punchy, though, so maybe it wasn't a problem. Everything else was wonderful.
And I cried when the John Galt train went over the bridge. I straight up cried.
In short, GO SEE THIS MOVIE ALREADY OH MY GOD IT'S SO GOOD. You can find out if it's playing near you here, and you can demand that it should be played near you here. Also, if you happen to live in California, which I don't, sob, there's a bunch of fucking awesome events like an Ellis Wyatt press conference, and a party hosted by Francisco D'Anconia (AAH) today and tomorrow which you can check out here. Please spread word about the existence and awesomeness of this movie, because it is a good movie and really deserves praise and the mainstream media is avoiding it or even actively trying to damage its potential success.
Also, if anybody wants to go see it with me, I am BEYOND game. I'll buy popcorn.