Atlas Shrugged: Part I

As an Ayn Rand fan, I was delighted at the idea of her most classic novel turned to movie. What was originally supopsed to be a big budget movie with the likes of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, it turned into a small-budget movie. While the budget itself doesn't show too much throughout the movie's production, the script and acting certainly show weaknesses that really underwhelm the viewer at points where the suspense should be building. The script also stays too faithful to the book which is already 50 years old. The weakness of the adaptation really lies in the script in my view and in the less than optimal acting by some members of the cast. Ayn Rand was an intense woman, and the novel is intense, yet only a few of the main cast really projected that intensity. It's too bad because you can see a great movie dying to come out of it but overall it just isn't a really finished product to the image that Rand would have wanted.