Here is a longer review I posted last night at Ace of Spades. It contains some bits and pieces I've already posted here, so I apologize for the repetition.
I was called insane by another commenter. That may or may not be a compliment over there. It's hard to tell sometimes.
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I've seen it twice and I loved it. (I decided to do that a while ago if I liked it, in order to give it a big opening weekend.) If anything, I liked it more the second time. On Friday night the theater was 1/3 full, which was disappointing. Tonight there were even fewer people, but there was a raging downpour going on which might have depressed turnout. Both nights, the audience applauded at the end.
I read Atlas Shrugged in 1997 and I've read almost everything Rand published, including her philosophical essays. I first discovered her when I was almost 40, so her ideas were not an adolescent infatuation in my case. In fact, I didn't get around to reading AS until
after I'd already read most of her other stuff.
For a long time I couldn't imagine how a movie could be made from that book, it was so densely packed with characters, plot, and ideas. In addition, the book was published in 1957 when railroads were still a major form of transportation. They were soon surpassed by trucks and airlines, and most of the old railroads went out of business. So I was puzzled about how they were going to handle the time frame. If it was set in 1957, many younger people would regard it as a period piece with little relevance for today. If it was set in the present day, then how could a railroad be depicted as a vitally important industry?
The filmmakers solved that problem by tacking on a beginning that explained that the Middle East had melted down, causing oil prices to skyrocket and making trains once again the most cost-effective means of transportation. Then they dove straight into the book. I thought that was a stroke of genius which was elegant in its simplicity.
The filmmakers ruthlessly pared the book down to its essentials. It's only an hour and 40 minutes long, which I thought was shockingly brief. Yes, I would have preferred it to be about 3 hours, but who else other than Rand fans would have gone to see it? A 9-part TV miniseries would have been even better, but there was only so much money available.
The point is to get as many eyeballs in the theater as possible. You're not going to do that with long, intricate philosophical discussions. That's what books are for. Movies are for telling entertaining stories. I was initially skeptical when I first heard about this project, but I am very pleased with the result. I think they did about as good a job as could be done.
This movie
must succeed. Our
country needs for it to succeed. The timing of its release could not be better. It's--dare I say--Providential. These kinds of ideas must be spread to as many people as possible. Lots of people have heard of Atlas Shrugged but have never read it. If this movie sparks interest in some of those people to investigate Ayn Rand further, it will have done its job.
This movie will be a hit if I have to drive the damn thing myself.
