P_Fritz February 21, 2015 at 12:27 pm

Has anyone seen the Atlas Shrugged movies and if so what did you think of them?

I watched part of the way through the second one but gave up. I’m guessing they had all kinds of friction in trying to make these films (I can only imagine the Hollywood establishment working against them).

But as far as the script I have to say placing it in modern times just doesn’t work. There’s no way you can write the Railroad industry back into economic or cultural relevance to the extent it would have been in the unspecified but clearly 50’s -ish time period of the original story.

Without a doubt this should have been a period film, and shot in the ‘Noir’ style of such classics as the Maltese Falcon, or Murder my Sweet. I think of the scene were Dagny talks to the newspaper vendor about how the burning tip of a cigarette represents man’s control of nature and I just see all of this happening on a shadowy black and white city street.

So that’s the other thing, if you can’t effectively tell the story of Atlas Shrugged in a world without a vibrant railroad system you can’t tell it in a world where no one smokes cigarettes either.

Rodger Paxton February 23, 2015 at 5:27 pm

I watched all three. They were terrible.

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Ben Best February 24, 2015 at 7:04 am

I started a thread when I saw the third film.

http://liberty.me/discussions/atlas-shrugged-part-iii-released/

None of the films seemed great, but they were far from “terrible” in my opinion.

 

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Wally Conger February 24, 2015 at 12:39 pm

I had positive things to say about the movies when #3 came out last September…

http://wconger.liberty.me/2014/09/16/5-things-that-atlas-shrugged-iii-gets-very-very-right/

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Chris Hatcher February 24, 2015 at 3:39 pm

I liked the 2nd more than the 1st.  If I were going to recommend it to a friend, I’d tell them to read a synopsis of the 1st and jump straight into the 2nd.  As an aside, there was a cameo in the 2nd one that I really appreciated.  No spoilers.  😀

I didn’t realize the third one was out.  I’ll have to Netflix it.

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Rodger Paxton February 24, 2015 at 3:41 pm

I am pretty sure III is not on Netflix yet. I bought the BluRay of it from the website.

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Cameron T. Belt May 25, 2015 at 8:03 pm

I absolutely agree with the style and setting that you described, the movie that comes to mind is almost like Blade Runner or The Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. I tried watching all three when they came out (i watch on netflix) but couldn’t make it more than 5 or 10 minutes, it was just butchered to death by horrible acting that i couldn’t get past.

In my opinion Atlas Shrugged should have been a mini-series on HBO or something instead of a movie. Its too large of a plot for it to be fit nicely into 3 movies even. I also think that a better movie to showcase Rands ideas would be a remake of the Fountainhead or maybe even We the Living.

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Anonymous May 26, 2015 at 12:45 am

I enjoyed all 3. The girlfriend and I watched them, then discussed some of the messages contained within them….very good way to open up a mind. The new actors in each movie was a bit of a drag….but I’d watch them again if I found someone I thought may be receptive to the messages held within.

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Dana Turner June 17, 2015 at 4:16 pm

I own and watched the whole Atlas Shrugged Trilogy (all Reason Special Editions) and all I can say is that the trilogy could have had potential, but they took Ayn Rand’s novel and butchered the living hell out of it.

How many successful moive series are there in the world where every time there is another continuation to the story line with the same characters there are different actors portraying them?

I felt the trilogy was not made for the general public to explore the ideas of Ayn Rand with ease, but only for hardcore fans who would hopefully accept anything.

My other comments and suggestions about the trilogy:

It should have been a 50’s period piece.  There should have been a better flow with the whole trilogy (characters, story lines, and environments/settings). Each movie felt like it was it’s own stand alone movie, and that they had no connections or same flow with the other movies.

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P_Fritz June 17, 2015 at 4:40 pm

I couldn’t agree more Dana. Totally would make a good 50 period piece in noir style. I’m sure they were running out of budget by the last one, but they never should have started with having jacked up the time period. Now they have to invent all these other explanations for why trains are so important in the future. These films as they are have really just given more ammo for critics of Rand.

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