Review of Atlas Shrugged: Part I (2011) by John M — 04 May 2011

Neither as bad as I feared nor as good as it deserved, the movie was worth seeing even if only for the pleasure of hearing some very unusual (for Hollywood movies) things in the theater. I admit I'm part of the target demographic, as an admirer of the novel, but that sometimes (frequently, in fact) works against adaptations. Here, despite obvious limitations of budget and time, the words that work so well in print still had power on screen. I actually got chills a couple of times and teared up slightly once (I admit -- I'm overly sentimental. When reading the book I always cry when the wet nurse buys it.).

I knew from the trailer that Rearden would be good, and he was. I wasn't so sure about Dagny, but she was fine. Of the major characters, the one I had the most trouble with was Francisco -- he should have been more patrician, in my opinion (a prince masquerading as a lout, the prince should have sneaked through a little more). Still, his scene with Rearden at the party, although short, was good. Among the minor characters the only complete failure was Hugh Akston, although that may have been due to direction and editing (liked the cigarette, though).

Speaking of editing, I could make a long list of scenes that I regretted not seeing, but I'll only mention two. First, I wish they would have alluded to the fact that every skilled laborer in Taggart Transcontinental wanted to be on the inaugural run of the John Galt line with the result that they had to draw lots to determine who got to be engineer, brakeman, etc. No need for an actual scene. I just wish they'd mentioned it. The point being that those who do not understand think Rand cared only for literal capitalists. Of course this might have been difficult to reconcile with the way they described the separation of the two enterprises. Second, I would have liked to have seen at least one of Eddie Willer's (late night? underground?) meetings with "the worker" in the company cafeteria (I believe that's where it was).

It was really nice seeing adults doing adult things; no explosions; no shootouts. I agree with (SF Chronicle) reviewer Mick Lasalle. I'm ready to see more of these people right now. Be a shame if that never happens.