Atlas Shrugged: Part II

It has it's faults, for example in the CG department, but the main characters are really good and it's so refreshing to see real heroes portrayed for once. Men who do not use violence to achieve their ends, but reason.

What do a high school ecofeminist, an apolitical Latino agricultural worker, a Marxist with his Che shirt, and even a free market advocate of sensible intelligence have in common? They will all think this sucks. Also, holy fucking shit, you know this side of the spectrum is quite faulty when Sean Hannity was asked to guest star. Two points for hilariously bad CGI and the new MILF lead, to be completely honest.

Rand's is certainly a conversation-provoking perspective ... as well as a doggedly materialistic one that leaves little room for spiritual considerations in an utterly political landscape. (pluggedin.com)

In watching this film the saddest thing was to see some people I know off TV such as: The Doctor from Voyager, Teller from Penn And and others who, by having brief parts in this film lead me to conclude they buy into this bullshit. The film itself is better than the first part with a tighter script and more things happening. I never hated the book (but I loathed the philosophy) and I actually quite enjoyed it.

The director lied and made part 2. Here's hoping the lies stop, and part 3 is a musical.

Minus its polemics this adaptation would make 4 a lethally dull thriller. Then again extremist propaganda is everything in Rand's famous novel. Those who can't abide a story dividing the world into 2 camps - the Unassailably Principled & Brilliant Job Creators vs. the Ungrateful Incompetents Around Them - may find this ridiculous at best or dangerously misguided at worst. However, if kooky "outsider art" holds any interest, the Bizarro ideas (like CEO's lacking govt influence) may be compelling.

PART I wasn't good, but PART II shows just how much worse it is from the very first moments of terrible CGI. An effort is made to communicate Rand's murky, inconsistent philosophy, but the more interesting details of the actual narrative are mostly lost amidst a castful of lazy performances (it was recast entirely, to no avail), John Putch's lifeless direction, and the obvious cheapness. It's hard to believe that the film could win over the unconverted, but PART III is apparently on its way...

What a huge turd. When the market dictates that your film is awful, the Randian answer would have been to find out why, and improve. Not to simply throw 4x the advertising budget at it and hire completely new actors, but to actually attempt to learn.

Flows better than part 1; although I preferred some of the former cast over this one. The writing could have been better and better delivered. But it is still a must-see film for its still prescient message. The second half of the film picks up the pace and I eagerly look forward to Pt. III.