BY ANNA FREIJE
High expectations tarnished by a colorless adaptation
I was extremely excited for “Atlas Shrugged Part III: Who is John Galt?”. Set as the final movie in the trilogy linked to the famous Ayn Rand novel “Atlas Shrugged,” expectations were high, but I was left disappointed. Not only did the movie look cheap, it makes the story cheap by not giving it the attention to details it deserved.
The story progresses and the viewer finally gets to meet the elusive, almost God-like character, John Galt. As society has been taken over by egocentric elitists, John Galt creates a utopic world by taking the best out of the money-hungry, corrupted world they wanted to leave behind.
The problem with his story is that it also leaves open the question, “Aren’t they also creating an elitist society by only taking select people?” The answer is a simple: yes. So on top of a faulty storyline that could be overlooked if you truly fell in love with the character, you never even have the option with these movies to love the characters.
Every “Atlas” movie has had a new leading lady, playing the same character. Now, sometimes, this can work well, but since each version is entirely different, even down to the age of the character, it doesn’t work well. The original film was, in my opinion, the best, but as the films decreased in budget, the quality lowered substantially.
All this being said, if you have seen the first two I do recommend finishing the trilogy. There are answers given and some twists that you wouldn’t see coming. You just have to be able to get past the quality of the film being so low. In addition, the added view may help if you decide to enter the scholarship contest.
The Ayn Rand Foundation holds a yearly essay contest with the possibility of winning up to $10,000 for a great paper. They have a new set of three questions about the book every year and you can pick your own topic from those three to write on. The due date for submissions is Friday, Oct. 24.
Contact Anna Freije, reporting correspondent, afreije@jccc.edu