Off Topic: My Review of Atlas Shrugged, Part 1

Atlas Shrugged is my favorite book. I read it a few years ago (during the last presidential race), and it spoke to me in a way no other book has. It was right after this that I started "seriously" writing fiction.

So when I found out they were making a movie(s) out of the book, there was a lot of trepidation mixed in with my excitement. I mean, the book is epic. There are over 1100 pages in the paperback. I felt some relief when I found out they were going to turn it into a series of movies. But I was still worried. I mean, there was so very much that could have gone wrong. And I still remember what happened when they adapted Stephen King's Dreamcatcher (don't even get me started on that one; we almost walked out of the theater).

Then I watched a "making of" featurette online. I felt a lot better then, since the director (Paul Johansson) seemed to have a great vision for the film and seemed to get what it was about. But I still had some reservations, since he's not exactly known for making great films. In fact, prior to this, he'd directed one TV movie, a few episodes of One Tree Hill (of which I am most definitely not a fan), and a short film.

But finally, this weekend, it opened in a theater that is only a two hour drive from where I live. I was still nervous, right up until the final credits rolled. All in all, it's a good movie. Here's a rundown of what I thought (warning, there are some minor spoilers here, though nothing major and nothing that's not in the book):

Positive: The acting was good. Sure, a few people were a little stiff in places, but overall it was spot-on for the characters. Grant Bowler in particular gave a great performance as Hank Rearden, and Taylor Schilling was an unexpected by good Dagny Taggart.
Negative: The editing was not good. The pauses in conversation were too long. There were a lot of extraneous shots that didn't add anything to the movie. Overall, the editing was one of the film's too biggest weaknesses.
Positive: They were faithful to the story. This was my biggest fear. I was terrified that they were going to soften the message of the book, and try to make it more "mainstream". They didn't. This alone makes it a great adaptation in my book.
Negative: The cinematography was lacking in places. The framing was weak, the sets looked smaller than they likely were because of bad angles, and it had a soap-opera-ish feel to a lot of it.
Negative: They softened Hank Rearden's character a little bit. I loved the fact that he was so callous in the book. When he and Dagny start their relationship, he makes it clear to her that it's just sex and will never be anything more, even though we all know that's so not the case. In this, he was more like the doting boyfriend after their first night together. That bugged me (also, the first sex scene in the book borders on violent, while the one in the movie is not at all like that).
Positive: They adapted the setting of the book really well, having it take place five years from now, with entirely plausible current events thrown in.

Overall, I would give the movie a solid 3.5 stars out of 5. If you're a fan of the book, you probably won't be disappointed with the movie. If you've never read the book, didn't like the book, or disagree with much of what the book stands for, you're probably not going to like it. But as a huge Atlas Shrugged fan, I'm pleased with the way it came out.

Note: If you want to comment about the movie, fine. But the second comments turn into any kind of ideological discussion, I'm shutting them down.