Anyone seen it yet? We're going on Tuesday. Here's a list of theaters it's playing in. Atlas Shrugged Movie - Theaters & Tickets
As one who has read the book a few times over many years I'd give the movie a generous "B" that with a little more time and money could have been an "A-". If you have not read the book I don't see how one could possibly fill in the gaps or keep up with the pace, especially once the run of the John Galt line is done. Can't really put myself in place of someone who has not read the book but have a hard time seeing how it could rate higher than a "D". Good points: - Soundtrack - Acting (mostly) - Holding to the books theme - Does not look like it was made for under $10M - At times, very funny - No adaptations for "modern day" were terribly egregious Bad points: - Does look like it was shot in just over 3 weeks - Pace is jumpy (often too fast) - Dialogue is sometimes stilted and unclean (some weak scenes) - Though understandable, a few great characters got steamrolled into tiny bits All in all I'm glad it was made, and as an indie film it's better than most. Parts two and three, if they happen, are set up nicely.
I doubt you could really do the book justice in any film less than about 10 hours. Just the political diatribes in that book would add hours and hours to the movies dialogue. While AS does have an interesting plot, so much about character development is found in those long wordy political screeds AR put into it, and since they really are the heart and soul of that tome, leaving them outm or highly redacting them, must leave the viewers who aren't intimately familiar with the book perplexed as to character motive.
You're wrong on that one. The box office is blowing out expectations. The power of Ayn Rand devotees has impressed some Hollywood distribution executives, who took note of the hefty $5,640 per-theater average scored by “Atlas Shrugged: Part 1” during its opening weekend. “Shocking,” one executive said about the healthy business the low-budget film has been doing, considering its “awful” marketing plan. Awful or not, business has been brisk enough for producers Harmon Kaslow and John Aglialoro to expand from 299 theaters to 425 this weekend and to 1,000 by the end of the month. They don’t have enough film prints to fill all the orders.... http://www.suntimes.com/4935704-417...?sms_ss=facebook&at_xt=4db462a82d3f0dea,0
I saw it last Saturday, I was surprised by the loud applause at the end, not because it wasn't good but because I am in the belly of the beast. The theatre was also half full btw. I thought, considering the the budget and story which is huge they encompassed a lot without having mucked it up, in an hour and 40. Dagny was very good, she captured my memory of dagny in the book.The message was loud and clear. The folks in front of me were laughing and made a comment on the Boeing bruhaha and I told them I was thinking exactly the same thing, life imitates art......