Review of Atlas Shrugged: Part II (2012) by Rebecca H — 12 Oct 2012

As an early reader of the book, someone who liked it very much, someone who thinks Rand got a lot right and that the world needs to know it, I am sad that a better movie of Atlas Shrugged has not been made. On the other hand, it was watchable, and I think, on the whole, better than the first installment. I saw Atlas - Part I on Netflix last night, having not managed to catch it in theaters in 2011, due in some degree to the very limited venues that showed it. I thought its worst flaw was casting.

I did not care for the portrayal of Taggart in I; she was too thin, too stiff, too sloganish, too cold. And d/Anconia was played and photographed so badly in I; he looked like an oaf or a goon; there was nothing aristocratic or romantic about him. I much preferred Mathis's and Morales portrayals of these characters in Atlas- Part II.

Yes, it did seem like Dagny had aged too much, but I chose to interpret that as a choice; to show how much stress and pain she has been under as her world disintegrates. And Mathis's face has a sort of tortured and apologetic tone to it that didn't wear well. But it was better than stiff and cold. The story line was believable, the cinematography and set design effective, the dialogue not usually too glib or preachy. All in all, it made me hunger for better, but understand that it is not really likely in the political climate of today that a movie that needs to be as big as Atlas needs to be can be done well on the kind of budget that can be raised by true believers. And I do think that Hollywood is so blindly 'big government' that there are costs to pay for anyone in the industry who supports this film. But beyond that there is just not enough of a market for this kind of a film. Sad, huh? I'd really like to see a good analysis of why it is so hard to portray these ideas in a sympathetic manner in a well-done movie.