Atlas Shrugging

Although I'm not an objectivist for reasons I will save for another post, I am undeniably part of the target audience here, so was obligated to see the new adaption Friday night. I was mainly just hoping this movie would not be painfully bad, and I'm pleased to report Paul Johansson's effort soared above my low expectations. The actors portraying Dagny Taggart and Hank Reardon were quite good. The script was faithful, and managed to keep the political drama from becoming too dry. I have several complaints, some more serious than others.
-The most standout flaw was the casting and direction in regards to Fransisco. This actor barely had a pulse, let alone charisma. D'Anconio is supposed to be a Paris Hilton-esque persona. A super-rich entitled brat, constantly over-the-top and debaucherous. I wanted to see him snorting cocaine off cleavage, and being LOUD and HAPPY. Not just looking bored, posing for photos with escorts. Fransisco is supposed to be an unignorable emotional counterpoint to the so-very-serious heroes and villains with their futile striving and petty machinations. He should be an exuberant nihilist in the midst of all this self-important pathos. Instead he blended into the background.
-Not nearly enough smoking. As in none, except for a tiny bit of foreshadowing with the ($) cigarettes from Hugh Akson at the end. As I recall, Dagny is clearly depicted as a chain smoker in the novel, and most the other characters are often described lighting cigarettes.
-There wasn't enough establishment of Wesley Mouch. Some of the people I saw this with have not read the book and were only loosely familiar with the story. To them it was not clear that Reardon initially hired Mouch as his lobbyist and basically inadvertently launched Mouch's career. The movie only ever shows Mouch in the company of the evil politicians, so if you are trying to follow this story for the first time, its easy to not catch that detail. There needed to be at least one scene with Mouch ingratiating himself to Reardon, because this is important to show that Reardon's willful lack of oversight of his lackey is partly the cause of the thievery cabal's rise to power.
-John Galt's dialouge sounded really stiff and academic. Yes, I know Ayn Rand expects people to immediately respond logically to unsolicited formal, politically charged statements. But normal people approached by strangers on the street spouting philosophical rhetoric are immediately written off as crazy, and the listener's only thought would be how to end this encounter quickly and safely. The script should have kept it much more vague as to how Galt is recruiting people.
-The character of Eddie Willers had a very different attitude than in the novel. Book-Eddie is deferential and almost timid. Movie-Eddie is downright adversarial. James Taggart is far too self-conscious to tolerate being questioned by a subordinate in that way. Movie-Eddie was noticeably off-putting and killed more than one scene.

All that aside, I highly recommend Atlas Shrugged! Whether you have read anything by Ayn or not, this is a good movie in and of itself. It hits the right notes, and projected at least a glimmer of the industrial-triumphalism that makes Rand satisfying at her best. I'm very pleased this did not abjectly suck, because I was not looking forward to hearing smug potshots from the mainstream, nor libertarians succumbing to denial and bending over backwards in apologizing for it.