I love Rand and her Philosophy , Read most of her books and loved it .But about the movie , if I hadn't read the atlas shrugged novel , seeing the movie I actually couldn't understand the connection between characters and what is the plot all about and what's going on. I think someone who hasn't read the book can't catch the grip and it may cause a lot of missunderstanding about Atlas shrugged.Plot is so spreaded , there is no background to it so the audience undersatnds characters as they should to. filming is lifeless , Acting is lifeless , you can not feel anything while watching the movie , you can't immerse yourslef in the movie . so hey say it's a low budget movie , common , for such a great novel as Atlas shrugged , making such a movie is absolutely unacceptable and desrespect to the book.I actually had downloaded part 1,2,3 and was excited to watch them all , but finishing watching the first part I removed the rest also not to spoil the great taste of atlas shrugged which I got from reading the book.I can say the worst movie I have seen in 5 years.

i actually enjoyed the film, but probably a TV show would've worked better - business, politics, love and betrayal - what is not there to keep the audience watching every week?since i hadn't read the book,there were some blank spaces, like - what is the motive of the politicians to break businesses? power, of course, but the link was too weak/would've been great to get more background on the families and relations etc etc.as a production it is solid, camera work is splendid, pretty good fx, acting is great, the only thing missing, as a mentioned is more depth which could've been provided by this being a TV show but well - still good

(Disclaimer...I posted this, my first and only review under a different user name and have since combined accounts and am re-posting this review, unchanged.)VERY minor spoilers maybe...Atlas Shrugged is a massive book and a pretty big read for somebody as young as I was when I read it. I have long felt it would be nearly impossible to make into a movie. Not only because of the scope and depth of the novel, but also because chapter long speeches (thinly veiled as a speech by a character but clearly laying out Ayn Rand's philosophy) would not make for great cinema. I also never thought there would be a wide enough audience to justify the expense of the kind of production it would take to convey the story without a major hatchet job to the original material. The book resonated for me and I think led to helping form my philosophy of life. Don't get me wrong, it has never dominated my thoughts or tempted me to join the Objectivist movement, though I have identified with Ayn Rand's core beliefs. Perhaps not to the extreme, but the foundation of her philosophy is much the way I feel and try to live my life. I suspect the movie would be much more difficult to swallow for someone who has not read the book but I rather enjoyed it. I gave it only a six based on the actual production value and not based on my impression of how well it followed the book, which it did, though hardly inclusively. If I could give it 6.5 I would. There is little passion in the acting, though I don't feel Taylor Schilling was as stilted and dry as others here have implied. As in the book, Dagny Taggart is a very driven and businesslike lady but not a robot. The Rogues Gallery of actors portraying the politicians bent on 'leveling the playing field' are the usual typecast actors playing the same role they play in every movie I've ever seen them in. The leads do a serviceable job, but I think their roles are kind of dictated by the need to cram as much information into a 90 minute movie as possible. To the filmmakers credit they don't use an excessive amount of flashy and annoying quick-cut MTV edits that are so popular today. That makes my head spin. Guess my age is showing. There are actually lingering establishing shots and decent visuals. There isn't much time to actually feel invested in the characters though. An earlier review stated that characters in the movie have, "More depth & complexity than the book." Wow, did we read the same book!? Entire chapters of character development have necessarily been left out of a movie that would take twelve hours to cover the source material properly. As a stand-alone movie it struggles to draw the viewer in and it feels a little soulless. It does succeed, rather haltingly, in conveying the protagonist's feeling (and the author's philosophy) that each person should succeed or fail on their own merits and the government shouldn't exist to redistribute wealth and opportunity. I feel much the same way. The grand conspiracy within the halls of government and the ease with which public opinion is swayed is bit much for me to swallow but I can see the seeds of it existing in reality. Rand's loathing of the communist agenda is clearly the core of this, but again if you haven't read the book then perhaps it is not immediately obvious. As someone who DID enjoy and identify with the novel, not to mention having read many of her works(some of which are pretty dry) I look forward to the remaining parts of this movie in the hopes that once we know the characters we will enjoy it a little more. Short of making a 12 part mini-series out of it, I think this is the best we can hope for out of an adaptation of a work this large.

Who thought a political movie about trains could be interesting? This movie, while being fairly political in the way it presents itself, keeps you interested with just one simple question: "Who is John Galt?" I started watching this movie because I was bored one day, and I immediately was drawn into the story. The characters, the conversations, and the events all interested me completely, and I have to say that the writing was terrific. This is the first time that I have come into contact with any of Ayn Rand's work. I enjoyed this movie so much that I almost bought the book that the movie was based off of the other day. Yes, this movie was so good that it made me want to read the book. How often does that happen? I am not a person that enjoys many political movies, but this film has so much depth behind all the characters and events that my attention was easily held. If you like political films or just love a great, compelling story, I fully recommend this movie to you.