Atlas Shrugged

Years ago I noticed several people reading the book Atlas Shrugged. I was kind of impressed with those people when I saw that the book was as thick as a brick. Since I'm a lazy guy, I decided to wait for the movie to come out instead of reading the book. Last night I watched part 1 of Atlas Shrugged on DVD. I'm guessing it came to the theaters first, but I don't ever recall seeing it's stealth release.

I didn't know what to expect from this movie, but my wife told me the book was a story about free enterprise, government regulation, intervention, successful business owners disappearing, and secret plots. The movie takes place in 2013 but the book was written in 1957. It is classified as a mystery/drama/political thriller genre. I was looking forward to seeing this movie, but after viewing it, I felt something was missing.

At one point in the movie, the main characters travel around the country trying to solve a mystery while running their businesses despite government opposition. In once scene they travel to an empty car manufacturing plant. They then walk right up to a wall with a secret door and find a room containing a prototype of an engine the government didn't want produced. While they are standing in there in the dark they give several explanations to the viewers about what they've found. It reminded me of a scene from Scooby Doo. Zoinks! It made me think they were rushed for time and that maybe this project would have worked better as a TV mini series instead of 3 movies.

I'm sure there are many people who gave this movie poor reviews primarily because of it's political message, but it still could have been better. I hate to say this, but I'm guessing this is yet another case of the book being better than the movie. I give Atlas Shrugged Part 1 6.0 stars and that's coming from a small government, free enterprise guy who should have loved it. Who is John Galt?