Best movie ever!

A Major Disappointment

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Your blood may run cold, but you now find yourself pinioned to the story.

A car company changes its pay structure to one based on the workers' needs. John Galt (Kristoffer Polaha) refuses to go along and vows to stop the motor of the world. He convinces other industry leaders to go on strike and disappear to his hideaway. He has also invented a revolutionary engine to power the world. Dagny Taggart (Laura Regan) goes in search for the mysterious John Galt. Her plane is brought down by an electrical shield and Galt carries her out of the wreckage. She decides to return to the world to fight for her railroad business against the dictatorial Head of State Thompson and her incompetent brother James Taggart (Greg Germann). Meanwhile the world is collapsing without the captains of industrial and under attack from the pirate Ragnar Danneskjöld.The story and dialog are clunky. This is basically a ninety minute sermon. Nobody in real life speaks like this. It makes the story very unwieldy. The Galt hideaway is a huge disappointment. It's a bunch of ski lodges and cabins with a farmer's market. With all the greatest minds in the world, it needs to be a magical Tomorrowland. I was glad when Dr. Floyd Ferris brings out a Star Trek scanner but that's the only thing. Sure Galt has his motor but they don't let it be amazing. It's a horribly flat and boring first half hour. There is an interesting section where Dagny returns home to battle his idiot brother. However, even that section is messed up by simplistic ideas like Minnesota. Apparently Minnesota is the only wheat growing state. It only adds to the ridiculousness. It makes any theory advanced by this movie sound stupid. Then there is the final battle. I didn't know torture requires a complicated machine. It seems like a car battery and a jumper cable would have done the same job. It's also one of the worst guarded torture site ever imagined. It's an ignominious end to a poorly executed story.

There are many movies structured around Utopia. Lost Horizon gave us Shangri-La where Jane Wyatt played the marvelous hostess, and later in Father Knows Best she symbolized the ideal housewife and mother. The Wizard of Oz gave us a land initially wonderful to Judy Garland until she realized she was homesick for Kansas.In Atlas Shrugged Part Three: Who Is John Galt?, Dagny Taggert's plane crashes in Galt's Gulch, a hidden haven in Colorado where the other inhabitants have been chosen by their leader to create a paradise. Analogizing Atlas the legendary giant holding up the world who shrugs it off after getting no thanks, they have taken their talents away from the ungrateful governments. Dagny finds it heavenly but decides she can't leave behind the battle for Earth. Upon returning she does not remain long, quickly reconciling herself to the world's inevitable demise. After making love with Galt then soon rescuing him from the regime's attempted crucifixion, she heads to the Gulch to live happily ever after.The fundamental question for these movies is whether perfect societies can actually exist?In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve violated their Creator's edict and were exiled. They had merely wanted to use their brains for something, so reached for the fruit of the forbidden Tree of Knowledge. But after deportation, were they any different in temperament? Their incestuous children established the human race, which has had a persistently violent history.The U.S. was founded under Thomas Jefferson's brilliant Declaration of Independence, yet he was a slave holder of black people and nearly exterminated the American Indian. His intelligence did not overcome his racism.Arthur Koestler postulated Darwin's Evolution leaving us with genes from the savage T-Rex, dooming humanity.I've read Atlas Shrugged and seen all three movies. In my earlier review of Part One, I demonstrated how that film adaptation contradicted the novel's premise and I felt the actors did not get it. Part Three differs as in night and day. The theme of this feature largely parallels the tome. The actors understand what they are saying and doing.However, it is your decision if the ideas therein convince you to wish joining Galt's bunch or remain home facing your current circumstances. You may dislike their personalities or believe you wouldn't fit in, assuming they'd even allow you entry. (In the book, admirable Eddie Willers was not admitted, in the movie he is.) If you are attracted by the group's apparent congeniality, consider it a fanciful escape as in Peter Pan or Lost Horizon or Oz.Otherwise simply turn off your video and may you elsewhere discover a distraction from the travails of life.

Unfortunately, this third installment is probably the weakest. One and Two are absolutely compelling, the realism and effects astounding, and the blending of current TV 'reporting' as part of the plot masterful! The book is very lengthy, dissuading some from tackling it, so bravo for the effort in bringing it the screen! Some drawbacks: since this project lacked major studio support and the undertaking was so huge, the budget seemed to dwindle and major characters had to be played by differing actors in each episode(which makes continuity a little confusing). Yet the plot is compelling and chillingly current. Nothing suffers here due to the age of the original story! My big gripe--in this 3rd episode: Galt's speech to the citizens of America squandered the earth-moving climax. In my mind (in the book), I 'heard' a Charlton Heston...a James Earl Jones...a commanding Shakespearean voice from a well seasoned, almost crusty veteran with vast life experience. Here, Galt is a youthful love interest for Dagny, too young to have been the great creator from Century Motors of decades before, and lacking a commanding presence. He is underwhelming. I would have loved to have rated this higher; the first 2 episodes were in the 8,9 range. This concluding episode pulls it down, unfortunately. BUT, this is a tough project, and the other reviews show the difficulty in trying to please all tastes.

Another reviewer mentioned capturing the philosophical essence and that's why I enjoy the series. There are a few speeches in each of these, the third included that really demonstrate Libertarian thought.Let me say these are "bad" movies in that none are ever going to win cinema awards but you don't watch this for popcorn thrills or to be amazed at the dramatic performances or directorial excellence or whatever.Given that you're watching a bad movie, the high points are that they present the point of view well and there are elements which for me were funny. The Utopian "Gulch" where everyone is a high functioning engineer or wizard of some kind, where materials and factories and everything can be done in the blink of an eye, "It's amazing what you can do without the red tape". This was funny. Dagny being paid 3 gold coins as an advance on her job as a maid in the Gulch was hilarious. I've never met a Capitalist so eager to hire, so easy on negotiation and so loose with money with an employee. But then Galt is in love with Dagny so I guess there's an excuse.The failure of the train trestle is presented in a single photo which looks like sabotage and I expected it to be so yet they say it was Socialism that destroyed the bridge. Very lame moment in the movie.A lot of narration is a sure sign of a lack of funding and/or screenplay writing.I wasn't really satisfied at the end as I wanted more conclusion, more closure with the world at large.Still as an expression of the Libertarian mind espoused by Ayn Rand in her Objectivism philosophy, I think all 3 are right on the money.