Movie Review: "Atlas Shrugged" (2011)

Ben and I were doing some running around on Saturday and noticed a billboard advertising "El Maco" from McDonalds. Now I am not a fan of Maccas, and haven't had anything from them for nearly a year, but it was a Mexican burger... And I like Mexican. The way the El Maco was advertised it was a big burger with spicy sauce and sour cream.

So on Sunday we stopped on the way home by our local and bought two El Macos and two large fries and when home, settled down to watch a movie. As it happens I had reviewed Ayn Rand Nation a week or so ago so it seemed appropriate to watch Part I of Atlas Shrugged.

We sat down and opened the bag. WTF. These burgers are tiny. Barely the size of a cheese burger. And flat as a tack. I stared at mine in disbelief. "You gotta be joking." Maco? MACO? El Decepcion more like. Sigh. Oh well. Maybe it tastes better than it looks.

Nope. Bland. Tasteless. Cardboard. Crap. No hint of spice at all. Maybe they mean for me to eat the container to add spice?

Much like the movie.

The production and filming was precise and clean. The actors well groomed. The dialogue... Stilted. The actors... Cardboard cutout people. Zero passion. Zero emotion. Flat. I remember reading the book in the late 70's and visualising the characters. Eddie, Dagny, Ellis, Hank and so on. I felt not so much inspired, but liking them in a strange way. They were so purposeful. Driven. And to me... Real.

I liked the black actor playing Eddie. That was a nice touch. And Graham Beckel as Ellis Wyatt was a good choice. All the others seemed like... Dunno. No depth. Just reading the script I guess.

I was reminded of the William Hurt version of Dune. After reading the book and watching the sumptious De Laurentius version I watched the William Hurt version and was under-whelmed. Now imagine that there was no De Laurentius version of Dune and all you saw was the William Hurt version. You'd be...

Under-whelmed. Felling Meh. With a side order of Humph.

And that is what Part I of Atlas Shrugged seemed to me.

I understand that Part II will be released later this year. I'll watch it. Just because I'm driven to complete whatever I start. But I hold no great expectations.