Atlas Shrugged Part 3 Full review: Really a shame, since Part 1 was decent and Part 2 was legitimately good. I was excited for 3 to continue the progress and for this to be a trilogy worth showing to people who won't read the 1100 page book. Nope. Bad casting, bad acting, bad music (not alone, but it didn't match what was happening on screen), bad adaptation of the plot, baaaaad dialogue.
First, we had to deal with the re-casting of all the roles from Part 2, just as we did from Part 1 with one glaring difference. Part 2's actors were improvements, Part 3's were not. Francisco D'Anconia is cast as a man too old to be Dagny's sweetheart, rather more of a father figure. Almost every other character is almost comically one-dimensional, as if they are cast for only their one trait. Rearden is saved from this travesty by being completely omitted from the story save for his voice on a phone call. John Galt is acceptable, and even gives a passable speech. Worst was Mr Thompson, who couldn't be bothered to know the first thing about his own philosophy, but more on that later. Hugh Akston had a believable conversation with Dagny which, unfortunately, may be the highlight of the movie. All of this is being distracted from by music that doesn't fit the on-screen action, unnecessary landscape shots of California pretending to be Colorado, and dialogue so badly cut, that the audio track doesn't even match the visual track in some places. And that's just the details.
My biggest complaint is the audience was treated like idiots. The plot was narrated through the whole movie (ever heard of show them, don't tell them? I guess not), and the characters explicitly spelled out their ideals more like they were reading talking points off of Ron Paul's pamphlets, not describing hard decisions they actually had to make in their lives. Additionally, the antagonists in the movie were bumbling idiots. At the point in the book most of the movie covers, the leaders of the People's State of America are supposed to be whole-heartedly dedicated to the way they are running the world., completely convinced of its morality, and well versed in the language used to defend it. Instead, they are obvious fools, unable to defend the most basic premises of their world view, supposedly so that the audience can more easily see that their world view is wrong. Well I didn't need that help, thanks. Almost as offensive is portraying John Galt, Ayn Rand's (a staunch atheist) hero of society, as Jesus complete with torture on the cross and a resurrection scene. It was probably added to make the movie more appealing to Evangelical Republicans who might be sympathetic to a Randian ideology if it weren't for the atheism. And to round out the offensiveness, Dagny Taggart, a powerful woman who runs a railroad empire and is the strongest voice against the socialist elites, is reduced to s starry eyed schoolgirl seemingly struck dumb (literally and figuratively) by her love of John Galt and her admiration of the society he's built. Her character is reduced to a passive window through which we watch the "story" unfold. 0/10 would not see again, and will not be adding the Blu-Ray to my collector's edition Parts 1 and 2.
First, we had to deal with the re-casting of all the roles from Part 2, just as we did from Part 1 with one glaring difference. Part 2's actors were improvements, Part 3's were not. Francisco D'Anconia is cast as a man too old to be Dagny's sweetheart, rather more of a father figure. Almost every other character is almost comically one-dimensional, as if they are cast for only their one trait. Rearden is saved from this travesty by being completely omitted from the story save for his voice on a phone call. John Galt is acceptable, and even gives a passable speech. Worst was Mr Thompson, who couldn't be bothered to know the first thing about his own philosophy, but more on that later. Hugh Akston had a believable conversation with Dagny which, unfortunately, may be the highlight of the movie. All of this is being distracted from by music that doesn't fit the on-screen action, unnecessary landscape shots of California pretending to be Colorado, and dialogue so badly cut, that the audio track doesn't even match the visual track in some places. And that's just the details.
My biggest complaint is the audience was treated like idiots. The plot was narrated through the whole movie (ever heard of show them, don't tell them? I guess not), and the characters explicitly spelled out their ideals more like they were reading talking points off of Ron Paul's pamphlets, not describing hard decisions they actually had to make in their lives. Additionally, the antagonists in the movie were bumbling idiots. At the point in the book most of the movie covers, the leaders of the People's State of America are supposed to be whole-heartedly dedicated to the way they are running the world., completely convinced of its morality, and well versed in the language used to defend it. Instead, they are obvious fools, unable to defend the most basic premises of their world view, supposedly so that the audience can more easily see that their world view is wrong. Well I didn't need that help, thanks. Almost as offensive is portraying John Galt, Ayn Rand's (a staunch atheist) hero of society, as Jesus complete with torture on the cross and a resurrection scene. It was probably added to make the movie more appealing to Evangelical Republicans who might be sympathetic to a Randian ideology if it weren't for the atheism. And to round out the offensiveness, Dagny Taggart, a powerful woman who runs a railroad empire and is the strongest voice against the socialist elites, is reduced to s starry eyed schoolgirl seemingly struck dumb (literally and figuratively) by her love of John Galt and her admiration of the society he's built. Her character is reduced to a passive window through which we watch the "story" unfold. 0/10 would not see again, and will not be adding the Blu-Ray to my collector's edition Parts 1 and 2.