Friday, April 15, 2011

Just finished seeing Atlas Shrugged

Take my advice – Don’t!!!!!

This is easily the worst film I have seen in years, and I watched Gor on Netflix the other night.  The only good thing I can say about it is I enjoyed the spectacle of the train engineer operating the engine in what appears to be a Las Vegas croupiers uniform.  They might have gotten a deal from the makers of Ocean’s 11, I don’t know, but I swear it happened. 

OK, I admit I am not a fan of the book, I found it simplistic and tedious, but the problems with the movie go way beyond that. 

First, the acting.  Calling it wooden is a disservice to fence posts everywhere.  I swear that you can watch the actors eyes reading the cue cards and coming across the word smile or frown and changing their expression appropriately.  Unfortunately the vocal intonations never change.  It’s like listening to a text to speech reader except the computer has more inflection.

Second, the setting.  This is supposed to be a dystopian reality, but it’s the cleanest friendliest dystopia I have ever seen.  The streets are swept, everyone is happy and smiling.  No foodlines, no beggars.  One apparently unemployed guy standing on the street with a sign looking for work.  (Oh and an abandoned car) That’s it.  It just doesn’t fit.  They didn’t even have the sense to film in the rain and at night ala “Blade Runner” to indicate that this is a dark time.

Third, the story (or maybe the story editing).  There is little to no narrative flow.  This story is supposed to take place over the course of 9 months or so, but nothing indicates that other than the occasional cut in news cast that reiterates something a character said 3 seconds before.  Scenes are also disjointed because important elements are missing (edited out maybe) the effect is that the dialogue sounds like they pulled one line from the book about every 5 pages.  It also has the effect of having pivotal scenes (such as when Dagney Taggart leaves Taggart Transcontinental to form the John Galt Line) jump out of nowhere.  If you have read the book you have an idea what's going on.  If you walked in cold you would be lost.

The camera work was good as was the scenery but that’s about it.

I really don’t expect parts 2 and 3 to be released.  

No comments: