NETim
10-19-2012, 08:30 AM
I got down to the big city yesterday with the wife to see a matinee showing of "Atlas Shrugged Part II" (The Strike). Counting ourselves, there were two people in the audience. :( But we did have our choice of seating I guess.
It's an entirely new cast, who for the most part, were better in their roles than the first ensemble. Samantha Mathis in particular, was much more convincing and believable as Dagny Taggart. Her face effectively communicated the stress and strain that would result from managing a dying railroad in a very hostile economy. (and my wife loved her earrings.)
I got a chuckle out of the scenes featuring protestors on the street carrying signs very reminiscent of what's seen at OWS love-ins. And there was one mention of "clinging."
Dagny's conversation with the technician who arrived on scene (wearing an authentic 20th Century Motors hat) to fix her dead train was the best scene IMHO. (Perhaps because the tech's mannerisms reminded me of me?) It distilled the message of the film into one nice neat easily digestible (and vaguely familiar) message:
"Each worked according to their ability and each took according to their need. And of course, the able just worked harder and the needy just got needier." (Not an exact quote, but close.)
The audience still doesn't get to see John Galt in this edition, except in silhouette.
Overall it's a much improved effort over the tepid first edition, AS Part I. It won't be remembered as a particularly great film but Objectivist types can sit through this one and enjoy it. Folks who don't get the whole Ayn Rand thing might be a little restless by the end of the film. And of course, collectivists' heads will have collectively exploded long before the end of the film.
It's an entirely new cast, who for the most part, were better in their roles than the first ensemble. Samantha Mathis in particular, was much more convincing and believable as Dagny Taggart. Her face effectively communicated the stress and strain that would result from managing a dying railroad in a very hostile economy. (and my wife loved her earrings.)
I got a chuckle out of the scenes featuring protestors on the street carrying signs very reminiscent of what's seen at OWS love-ins. And there was one mention of "clinging."
Dagny's conversation with the technician who arrived on scene (wearing an authentic 20th Century Motors hat) to fix her dead train was the best scene IMHO. (Perhaps because the tech's mannerisms reminded me of me?) It distilled the message of the film into one nice neat easily digestible (and vaguely familiar) message:
"Each worked according to their ability and each took according to their need. And of course, the able just worked harder and the needy just got needier." (Not an exact quote, but close.)
The audience still doesn't get to see John Galt in this edition, except in silhouette.
Overall it's a much improved effort over the tepid first edition, AS Part I. It won't be remembered as a particularly great film but Objectivist types can sit through this one and enjoy it. Folks who don't get the whole Ayn Rand thing might be a little restless by the end of the film. And of course, collectivists' heads will have collectively exploded long before the end of the film.