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To be fair though, it doesn't seem as if Ebert is panning this on ideology. He's clearly not a fan of Ayn Rand, but he seems to dislike the actual movie more th

To be fair though, it doesn't seem as if Ebert is panning this on ideology. He's clearly not a fan of Ayn Rand, but he seems to dislike the actual movie more than its message.

bradleyland 16y ago
It would seem to be impossible to dislike Rand's ideology as presented in Atlas Shrugged and enjoy any film that is dedicated to the novel. I read most of Atlas Shrugged, but didn't finish it. I was bored to tears and turned off by the stereotypical nature of the characters. I like many of the ideas presented in objectivist philosophy, but I'm not quite a kool-aid drinker. Still, I'll reiterate, I have respect for the ideas. The problem I had with Atlas Shrugged was that it was rather transparently philosophy first, story second. Have you ever hung out with someone who purposefully complicated their speech? The kind of person who subscribes to every "word of the day" feed they come across. The kind of person who says, "but I digress" more than any one person should be allowed? The characters in Atlas Shrugged all come across like this to me. I kept finding myself thinking, "Who talks like this?" The follow up thought was, "I hope I never meet them." The characters in Atlas Shrugged are vehicles for communicating Rand's philosophy, but the philosophy shines through their actions like the mid-day sun through plate glass. I started out reading Atlas Shrugged and feeling like, "Yeah, damn those government men for getting in the way of progress," but by the time d'Anconia revealed that he intended his mine to become nationalized, all I could muster was an "Oh gaaaaaawd," followed by a lengthy sigh. The story had crossed over in to some strange form of industry-worship. I have no idea how the film will deal with the lengthy inner monologues present in Atlas Shrugged, much less the contrived conversations and scenarios, but I believe even the most skilled filmmaker would have a difficult time crafting this work in to something that a film critic would enjoy.

To be fair though, it doesn't seem as if Ebert is panning this on ideology. He's clearly not a fan of Ayn Rand, but he seems to dislike the actual movie more than its message.

bradleyland 16y ago

It would seem to be impossible to dislike Rand's ideology as presented in Atlas Shrugged and enjoy any film that is dedicated to the novel. I read most of Atlas Shrugged, but didn't finish it. I was bored to tears and turned off by the stereotypical nature of the characters. I like many of the ideas presented in objectivist philosophy, but I'm not quite a kool-aid drinker. Still, I'll reiterate, I have respect for the ideas. The problem I had with Atlas Shrugged was that it was rather transparently philosophy first, story second. Have you ever hung out with someone who purposefully complicated their speech? The kind of person who subscribes to every "word of the day" feed they come across. The kind of person who says, "but I digress" more than any one person should be allowed? The characters in Atlas Shrugged all come across like this to me. I kept finding myself thinking, "Who talks like this?" The follow up thought was, "I hope I never meet them." The characters in Atlas Shrugged are vehicles for communicating Rand's philosophy, but the philosophy shines through their actions like the mid-day sun through plate glass. I started out reading Atlas Shrugged and feeling like, "Yeah, damn those government men for getting in the way of progress," but by the time d'Anconia revealed that he intended his mine to become nationalized, all I could muster was an "Oh gaaaaaawd," followed by a lengthy sigh. The story had crossed over in to some strange form of industry-worship. I have no idea how the film will deal with the lengthy inner monologues present in Atlas Shrugged, much less the contrived conversations and scenarios, but I believe even the most skilled filmmaker would have a difficult time crafting this work in to something that a film critic would enjoy.