My eyes are tearing as I report that while retaining the book's name, the movie shrugs its intricate underlying story and moral teachings. It would be easier to do no such thing, to laugh off the stilted dialogue and stern, unironic hectoring, so that’s what most viewers will do. The title of Ayn Rand's novel Atlas Shrugged analogizes the legendary giant holding up the world, who finally tiring at receiving no thanks, decides to shrug. “Atlas Shrugged” wants to start an argument with you, to force you to (in Rand’s often-repeated words) “check your premises.” Even “The Social Network,” the most acclaimed business movie of last year, placed the building of one of the world’s most valuable companies in the background of a personality dispute and some whining about club membership. The subjects the film deals with are fascinating, important - and almost completely ignored at the movies.
Mostly because after four hours, the series still fails to justify its film existence.
The movie covers only the first third of the book and ends on a cliffhanger without fully resolving its central question: “Who is John Galt?” - a shadowy figure who seems to be linked to the disappearance of many leading business figures. Atlas Shrugged Part III concludes a storyline that did not need the bloated, Peter Jackson-style treatment. People who have not read 'Atlas Shrugged' and came to the movies with a relatively open mind, but criticize the movies for their cinematic weaknesses. Director: Chris Mortensen Stars: John Allison, Clifford Asness, Rajia Baroudi, Mike Berliner Votes: 479 5. Ayn does a much better job of illuminating Objectivism in her book than could be done in any movie(s). 'Ayn Rand & the Prophecy of Atlas Shrugged is a feature length documentary film that examines the resurging interest in Ayn Rand's epic and controversial 1957 novel and the validity of its dire prediction for America. Rearden is being forced to sell off his conglomerate bit by bit because of a new law that no one can own more than one business, while Taggart’s brother (Matthew Marsden) believes the railroad’s most important source of innovation ought to be collaborating with the government on tightly state-controlled enterprises. Most of them have never read 'Atlas Shrugged' and if you have not, I suggest you do so. “Atlas Shrugged,” a mega-fable that is to capitalists roughly what “To Kill a Mockingbird” is to liberals, centers on the struggles of a railroad exec, the beautiful and exacting Dagny Taggart (Taylor Schilling), to overhaul a line with a controversial, untested new steel alloy produced by an equally arrogant industrialist, Hank Rearden (Grant Bowler). Though a bit stiff in the joints and acted by an undistinguished cast amid TV-movie trappings, this low-budget adaptation of Ayn Rand’s novel nevertheless contains a fire and a fury that makes it more compelling than the average mass-produced studio item.
This isn’t loony-bin stuff: Attention must be paid. Government denounces selfish corporate interests and concerns itself mainly with dividing the dwindling wealth. The Dow has fallen below 4,000, gasoline prices are through the roof and infrastructure is falling apart.