Escape to the Movies: Atlas Shrugged

[Venereus]

Rand is pathetic.

Now bring me a movie about Nietzsche's Übermensch - and make the God-killing part literal!

This this this!!!
Closest so far:

 

[JMeganSnow]

Thanks MovieBob, for reviewing Atlas Shrugged: Part One. As an Objectivist who regularly visits this site, I'm glad you decided it fell under your purview for one reason or another.

I thought the movie was awful, myself. I mean, REALLY REALLY BAD, as a movie. It's just badly done. But I'm still glad you reviewed it.

GO READ THE BOOK.

 

[jmarquiso]

I'm not surprised that The Fountainhead (1949) was a better movie. That's mostly because Rand wrote the screenplay herself.

Maybe this move will inspire someone to make a reboot with a better screenplay and a more well known cast.

While the movie is being sold as "the movie liberal Hollywood didn't want you to see", it had a long development life at Lion's Gate with Angelina Jolie attached to the lead. The primary backer, and owner of the rights, wanted a more "faithful" adaptation and held out until turnaround to self-finance this movie.

This is why it's been marketed poorly. I only know about it since they blanket advertised over Cracked.com and Reddit.

So, "liberal Hollywood" (despite the fact that most studios are run by conservatives) almost made it, and also almost made it with a greater cast with more appeal.

 

[RTR]

I agree that on its broad strokes, Objectivism is very intriguing.
2112 is so mindblowingly awesome

 

[Chucktanium]

I've always felt that Atlas Shrugged was one of those books that they could never successfully turn into a movie

 

[MovieBob]

Anyone find kinda strange Ayn Rand would pick a heiress as main protagonist?

I mean the very mechanic of inheritance kinda throw a big wrench in her obsession with self-made man?

Power, wealth, influence and title can all be given to someone through the wealth of someone else solely because that person died (apparently its bad when its taxation, but when its inheritence there's not problem about it) Its pretty damn clear Dagny Taggart wouldn't have been in the position she was, had the oppornity she had if she had not been in a family.

(althoguh since her brother is shown as being unable to turn the compagny around and that she romance an actual self-made man, I suppose we are ought to see a difference)

In fairness to the work, that's sort of the point to the character - there's no actual "uprising" by the working/poverty class in Atlas Shrugged's vision of an economic-collapse. All the bad is done by 2nd and 3rd generation heirs and trust-fund babies like Dagny's brother, the idea being that they've never had to work for what they have and thus don't understand that their well-meaning altruism isn't going to work out for people long-term.

The important distinction Rand (repeatedly) makes is that while Dagny (the author-insert character, of course) comes from the same background, because she's a woman in a man's world she actually HAS had to struggle for what power/position she has and thus "gets it" in a way the rest of her social-circle doesn't. Granted, it doesn't solve the THOUSANDS of other problems with the setup and narrative, but it's something.

 

[SOCIALCONSTRUCT]

I can't think of anything bad to say about this review.

However, I must ask everyone: would you kindly get off of Bob's nuts?

 

[MBE]

Considering how absolutely WRONG MovieBob was with his "Sucker Punch" review, "Atlas Shrugged" must be the BEST MOVIE EVER.

Okay, maybe "WRONG" is too strong a word. Let's just say that of the reviews of "Sucker Punch" I've seen, MovieBob is the *only* reviewer that gave it an even mediocre positive review. Maybe MovieBob is the lone voice of truth in a wasteland of crap, or maybe he's too much of a fetishistic fanboy to see the truth.

Either way, when "Sucker Punch" arrives on Netflix streaming in a few months, I'll watch it. If it is the steaming turd that everyone says it is, I can still enjoy it for the hot chicks being all badass. Yes, I am a fetishistic fanboy.

 

[lumpenprole]

Does anyone actually think the economy would be worse off these days with the heads of corporations disappearing?

I mean, I'm not advocating assassinations or anything? But the banking industry was pretty much given it's head and that turned out awesome, right? The great movie would be where the heads of corporations are disappearing and other than watching breathless news articles about it, the majority of the world gets on with their life.

 

[i7omahawki]

I like how apparently Bioshock, a videogame, captured Rand's philosophy better than a movie dedicated to her work.

Go games I guess.

The game has the luxury of having longer than two hours to run its story.

Haha, its not a luxury, its a facet of the medium. Movies can be as long as they like, it's just the nature of film for people to get bored after 2-3 hours.

I think, if Bioshock really does communicate that message better than the film, it's triumph for video gaming. I can't think of many games that tackle big topics and do it better than films.

 

[Not G. Ivingname]

Snip

Well, what do you think about the news that the film is rather badly done and just boring?

 

[MB202]

Wow, I had no idea this was made into a movie. I guess that's why it's super low budget and filled with TV actors and unknowns...

May or may not check it out. Probably won't, though.

 

[SOCIALCONSTRUCT]

73 comments already, god damn. Do you guys just camp out at this website?

 

[Littaly]

Didn't the guy who bought the rights go ahead and make it because his rights were running out, as opposed to "just deciding to get it out of the way"?

Anyway.

Spoiler: potential spoilers for Bioshock

Bioshock must have the most ingenious twist in any work of fiction ever. You can reference it time and time and time again, and all but rub it in the face of someone who hasn't played the game, unless you're really paying attention, you're still not gonna get spoiled. It's virtually unspoilable ^^

 

[Dana22]

Fountainhead was much better movie adaptation.

 

[emion]

HAHAHA loved the ending XD yeah I will XP

 

[StriderShinryu]

Pretty much sums up my thoughts on both this movie, Atlas Shrugged the novel, and Rand's Objectivism in general. While The Fountainhead was a better piece of literature, Rand just wasn't much of a fiction writer in general. Her non fiction works about her, and others, philosophies are actually quite a good read even if you don't agree with her. The fact, however, that all of her fiction is so transparently allegorical for for objectivist views makes for poor storytelling.

Anyone find kinda strange Ayn Rand would pick a heiress as main protagonist?

I mean the very mechanic of inheritance kinda throw a big wrench in her obsession with self-made man?

Power, wealth, influence and title can all be given to someone through the wealth of someone else solely because that person died (apparently its bad when its taxation, but whits inheritence there's not problem about it) Its pretty damn clear Dagny Taggart wouldn't have been in the position she was, had the oppornity she had if she had not been in a family.

(althoguh since her brother is shown as being unable to turn the compagny around and that she romance an actual self-made man, I suppose we are ought to see a difference)

Yeah, that\s pretty much it. Dagny is rather explicitly compared to those around her who are given their wealth and power by birth and don't make proper use of it. It's a bit of an odd choice on some levels, but it does make for easier storytelling. It sets Dagny up as both a character able to perform the role she does and a convenient point of comparison to others not pulling their own weight in a single stroke. Rand never was much for quality deep character creation.

 

[PunkRex]

So I guess you could say the message of the film got...
*puts on sunglasses*
De-Railed
YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

God I love Horatio Caine one liners.

Also, despite how little I know of this book and its "classic" statis, the fact it lended itself to the creation of Bioshock and proberly my favourite gaming bad guy Andrew Ryan, it has my thanks... still proberly wont read it but still give cred where due.

 

[KO4U]

Rand's unique beliefs really don't have much of a fan base among the "modern" tea party movement which I would assume would be the conservative crowd the film was targeting.