Atlas Shrugged Part ][
So... I thought I'd celebrate acing my Math test earlier this afternoon, so I stopped at the Redbox on the way home and picked up a DVD. And lo' and behold, what did I find?
The sequel to the classic that almost put me to sleep... but I try to keep an open-mind, so I figured I'd give it another try.
First thing I noticed is that practically the entire original cast were replaced by newbies. Did the original flop that bad that ALL the original actors/actresses wanted nothing to do with the sequel? Say it ain't so!
Sure enough, once again the set consisted of mostly stuffy board rooms, cocktail parties, and the occasional train-car interior. It's probably not hard to turn a profit on a low-budget film when your only real expenses are the fancy suits and dresses the main characters wear!
Lots more boring dialogue, a rousing speech about how money isn't evil, straw-man arguments about the government supposedly getting so oppressive that it no longer allows for workers to quit their jobs or get pay raises, nor for inventors to invent new things (no more patents!) And of course the mystery dynamo -- the power source to end all power sources.
I wish there was more to say about this film, but that really about covers it. 111 minutes dragged out with a train crash or two thrown it for effect.
It looks like Dagny finally finds John Galt in the end. Wish they would have skipped straight to that part right at the beginning when they were showing her flying her plane, because the rest was all just pretty much filler in between.
I'm not sure there will ever be a Part 3, but I am kind of curious to see what kind of "utopia" they've created, supposedly free from the corrupting vices of the rest of society.
Oh well. $1.27 and a couple hours of my life I'll never get back.
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Yeah, I was young and stupid. Well, not quite so young . . . . I think I read Atlas Shrugged when I was 35. 
Anyway, congrats on acing your math test!
Was hoping to get a basic summary via the film...
Maybe its just one of those books that doesn't transfer over to movie format very well, but it sure seems pretty boring, at least first two parts so far.
Yet I'm just morbidly curious as to how it ends, what Ayn Rand's supposed "ideal society" looks like.
After all, its easy to criticize overbearing government, but a lot of that has to do with capitalist (corporate) influence over the political process.
So what's the alternative? What kind of "utopia" does Ayn Rand have in mind, that would somehow be "above the corruption" of our current form of government?
Judging from the first two films, I'm not so sure Part 3 will ever make it to production, so I guess I'll never know.
My memory sucks. I have a mind like a steel . . . sieve.
Have a lovely evening.
