Atlas Shrugged Movie - Just saw it.

MattMunson

Since the old thread was locked due to everyone having a meltdown over Rand's ideology, I thought I would start a new thread.

I watched the movie last night, and as a huge fan of the book, I thought it was decent. I can see how the uninitiated would find it pretty dry and boring. Without the background and context of the book in your head, a lot of what is going on seems confusing. As someone who has read the book, I think it's a very nice visualization of many key moments of the movie.

I think my only genuine nit about the movie is that most of the John Galt Line train CGI looks pretty "made-for-tv" quality, but the rest of the movie looks great. Very nice production design. Not too over the top, but definitely a tad other-wordly.

I thought setting it in near-future was also interesting, and they spent a moment explaining why rail travel was now relevant. I guess if you can swallow that pill, the rest falls into place.

I personally am looking forward to the next movie, to see where they go with it. Seeing how dismal the domestic take was is pretty disappointing though, and does not offer much enthusiasm for the entire trilogy. With the global popularity of the book, I'm kind of stunned at how badly the movie did. I didn't think it was THAT bad, though I guess the real trick is to appeal to a very broad audience.

Nwerke

Broad audience ayup. You can't rely solely on an existing fanbase - ask the average man in the street if he's ever even heard of the book; you'll get a lot of negatives.

(I guess literary ignorance isn't all bad.)

Sorry, sorry! Couldn't resist. I hope this thread doesn't go south as badly as the last one. I'm not a Rand fan, but I'd like to think I can discuss her work civilly.

Art Andrews

Really? You are? Given the attitude of so many, and especially considering the drivel Hollywood is constantly promoting, I think the fact that this movie was made at all is nothing short of a miracle.

I too really enjoyed the book, although some of the speeches got REALLY long and find myself drawn to Rand's ideology but also a little torn on it.

Haven't seen the movie yet, but I'm really looking forward to it!

Solo4114

True story. Just ask the Browncoats.

Larry Young

That's not really apples and apples, though; Universal badly, badly mismarketed it, putting all its eggs in the word-of-mouth basket by showing the movie for free in advance to nearly any Browncoat who asked.

All that did was show the movie for free to the one subset of moviegoers who were inclined to pay for it in the first place.

Solo4114

That's true. I'm more just getting at the general sense of "The hardcore fans will see it" and that not being enough to propel the film to financial success.

But yeah, Universal mismarketed the thing, although I think marketing the film would've been difficult anyway.

StevenRogers84

I didn't even know that a movie was made! I always enjoyed the book.

Tempus

I have heard various opinions on the movie, and hadn't decided to see it or not.

I may need to have a look now.

Birdie

This is not only hilarious, but tells me everything I will ever need to know about this movie, book, and author: ATLAS SHRUGGED DVD Recalled Because Of Ideological Error | Badass Digest

Larry Young

SERENITY - the only thing calm about these space pirates is the name of their ship!

BANG SHOOT SWOOPING SPACE BATTLES SEXY GIRLS MORE SHOOTING END QUIP COMING SOON

First-year marketing students could have done a better job.

But the only reason I knew there was an Atlas Shrugged movie is because my homey Mick LaSalle wrote an entire review of it whose main point was you had to read the book to understand a minute of what was going on.

CB2001

I can't say I've read anything by Ayn Rand. The only thing Ayn Rand-related that I've managed to sit through was the film adaptation of The Passion of Ayn Rand. I thought that was good, but it didn't make me interested enough in Ayn Rand to go out and buy one of her books to read (trust me, I've done it before. Most recently, I watched Henry and June and became interested in reading the published diary by Anais Nin).

But other than that, I can't really say much about Ayn Rand or if I want to see the film or even read the novel.

Solo4114

Ha, true, but it wouldn't have been an entirely accurate representation of the film.

Which I guess means it'd be a DYNAMITE marketing campaign.

See also:

Starship Troopers (1997)

Bridge to Terabithia (2007)

Larry Young

It's all about opening weekend, nowadays.

nickytea

Didn't work in that case, but if the movie really works on its own, you can give away as many tickets to the fans as you want and it won't make any difference.

I saw The Dark Knight twice before it opened on Warner's dollar. They made a few back.

Jeyl

Which itself was named after the Battle of Serenity Valley, a particularly bloody battle that ended in Mal's side losing the war against the Alliance. So, no. There's nothing calm about the ship's name.

Larry Young

I think you rather missed the point, again. Marketing has nothing whatsoever to do with product. It's all about Jedi-mind tricking the dollars from your wallet.

Solo grokked; you didn't read his reply?

Jeyl

But that was never a marketing tagline for the movie...

Larry Young

You're following this thread, yes? Solo said it would be hard to market; I showed an easy way to do so.

"I schlepped to the bodega for some sushi." What language am I writing in?

nickytea

We were talking in an advertising context. An in-narrative bit of information does not override the perceived calmness of the word. It's the contrast that makes the name significant, regardless of what "historical" event is reference. (Which -- guess what -- was invented to have a contrarily-named effect, too.)

Jeyl

Hmm. You're right. Now that I think about it, that tagline actually works considering that it's daring those who read it to think "If that's the case, why would these people name their ship Serenity?". They'll assume it's just for comedic effect since it's so opposite of the characters when it turns out to be something completely different.

MattMunson

Good discussion about the movie, Atlas Shrugged so far. Please carry on.

Kerr Avon

Yeah, the movie could have been better, but I enjoyed it. The first movie spent the entire time showing what's wrong with the world, but didn't get to start the counter arguments or get to the meat of the book. This next one hopefully will be a bit more well developed and include some of the great parts of the book, like Francisco's speech at the party about money and the root of evil.

I'm actually on the DVD, I'm in the "I'm John Galt" montage.

They are planning on having the second movie out for late next year.

MattMunson

I think it's been fun to watch the production of the movie. It's basically a REALLY big budget fan film. It's like the first film the dudes have ever made, and they are making all kinds of mistakes all over the place, and learning from them. I certainly respect that, and I think overall the results are pretty darn good. Way better than I could ever do myself, that's for sure.

Larry Young

I'm pretty sure Rand, as the mother of Objectivism, would appreciate a side discussion about marketing in general and of the Atlas Shrugged film in particular what with reality existing independent of thought, and whatnot.