Atlas Shrugged II: The Strike

While I have never read the book, the way this movie is filmed and the lack of big named stars really took me in. This is a wonderfully produced movie with some incredibly deep overtones of the situation that the US is currently potentially facing.

The acting is excellent and the dark feel and sense of hopelessness really gets inside of you as I realize this is a possible future as being orchestrated by the powers that be. Art imitates life so to speak and being someone who deeply distrusts the main stream media, seeing it as the 100% propaganda that it is and has researched a lot into the darker truths about those running our country, its almost as if Ayn Rand was seeing the way the power structure of the world was setting up the world to achieve its goals of domination and subservience of the US population.

Fear is rampant in this moment and the government uses that fear to take even further control from the people. This movie should hit home and make us take stock of what we have and wake up to what the military industrial complex, bankers and power elite have in store for those of us that continue to stand still with our head buried in the sand while all of our liberties are taken by us one by one.

Part II of the film version of Ayn Rand's famous book "Atlas Shrugged" has a bigger budget and a better known cast, consisting of Samantha Mathis, Jason Beghe, D.B. Sweeney, Esai Morales, John Rubinstein, Ray Wise, Diedrich Bader, Arye Gross, and Stephen Macht.

There are some knockout interiors, but the process shots, especially in the beginning, are horrendous.

Ayn Rand was a controversial person, and her philosophy of Objectivism is also very controversial. However, she was a visionary. In The Fountainhead, she talks about the rise of mediocrity in the arts, tabloid journalism, and the lack of artistic integrity. She believed in independent thinking, and in not compromising in your art.

In "Atlas Shrugged," Rand again proved herself prescient as the world in her story is just about the world we live in today - too much government intervention, gas prices sky-high, and a major recession. All the independent thinkers have disappeared, and the question on everybody's lips is, "Who is John Galt?" We learn here that John Galt threatened to "stop the motor of the world." He's just about succeeded as Part II progresses.

The characters in Atlas Shrugged are difficult to relate to, as were the characters in The Fountainhead. That's because they're symbols. Somehow they're easier to relate to in the books, I'm not sure why. Everyone does as good a job as they can, but this is a film about politics and ideas, with characters representing them.

I'll say this is better than Part I, it's better acted and less cheap looking. I hope there is a Part III, and I hope they keep this cast.

I can't say whether or not I recommend this. I would recommend reading the book first. I still believe in Rand the writer, even if her philosophies are tough to take.

I just came back from watching part 2 and up front, I will say that I was disappointed that the original cast was unable to return for part 2. That being said though, once the movie started I didn't really care about that anymore.

I thought Dagny being portrayed by an older actress was actually more in-line with the way I viewed her when reading the book, and the same goes for the other actors, like Eddie Willers, etc. I'm unsure how I feel about DB Sweeney portraying Galt himself since I never considered him a very strong actor, but that's a moot point in part 2 anyway.

As others have noted, the special effects in this aren't exactly top quality, but they're passable. It reminded me of the type you'd see on a SyFy original movie or something along those lines... not bad, but not great.

Overall, it was a good movie. Let's face it, if you liked the book, you'll like the movie. If you hated the book (or never read it, but hate the very idea of it), you'll hate this movie too. But that hatred would have nothing to do with the movie itself, but about your views of Rand's philosophy.

I'd give the movie a technical rating of 5-6 because it wasn't too bad, and some of the cinematography was actually pretty well done. Content I give it a 9 because I appreciate where Rand is coming from, so let's call it an 8 out of 10 overall.

Just saw the film, and was disappointed that the original cast wasn't involved. The 2 lead characters, Dabney and Henry, don't have the same appeal or chemistry as the leads in part 1. The film seemed very uneven, and didn't flow well enough to engage the audience, but the thematic material was so relevant to what is going on in America today, that I'm sure every audience member was angered at what was a very clear representation of the destruction of America, as we've known it, which is in progress today, because of the 99%ers. This film is ultra relevant, and should be seen by as many people as possible, just like "2016, Obama's America". People have got to start acknowledging that socialism is destructive, de-motivating and only a cover up for an "elite" group who will have total control of everything and everyone. See the film, for the message. In that context, it's very powerful.

I'm surprised by the reviews I've read stating that Part II was better done than Part I. I saw Part II with four friends, all have read the book and had seen Part I.

We all felt the drop off in acting quality was extreme. Unfortunately, this is magnified by an inferior director as well. The plot is for the most part accurate to the book, though the time-line was slightly altered and curiously skipped certain important details while forcing others less significant details into the screen play.

The new Rearden and D'Anconia are painful. The new Dagny isn't as painful but the actress in Part I I felt was far superior.

Its unfortunate that this trilogy is going to fail to transform into film yet again.