Plot: What’s it about?
It can sometimes be hard to jump into a film series during the third entry having never seen one of the previous chapters. Case in point: Atlas Shrugged: Who is John Galt? I for one do not care, but that’s beside the point. A little searching around and you will find that Atlas currently stands at zero percent on Rotten Tomatoes. Not a single critic (at least that is listed) enjoyed the film. I understand that this doesn’t always spell trouble, but one has to wonder what has gone so wrong. All films in this series have gotten absolutely terrible reviews. Clearly, the third time wasn’t the charm. I’d love to tell you that the critics missed the boat on this one and it’s some overlooked gem, but that is far from the case here.
The economy is on the verge of collapse and it’s up to one man to try to save it. We see John Galt (Kristoffer Polaha) in a prologue trying to make a factory be run as a communist shop. His wish is to “stop the motor of the world” (give me a break), it’s at this point that the collapse occurs. Dagny Taggart (Laura Regan) is on the search for Galt and when her jet crash-lands, she finds him. The two of them eventually fall in love and giving us their romantic angle. There’s just not much else to report on here. The film is just lousy. It’s as bad as you’ve probably heard. The dialogue is awful, acting worse and story very lackluster. One review mentioned that this film would be ideal for an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000. Where do I sign up? I would definitely be up for that. There’s little of interest here. Who is John Galt? Who cares? Not I.
Video: How’s it look?
Having seen the first, but not the second, installment in this series I have to say that I was generally unimpressed. I don’t know what it was, but Fox’s 1.78:1 AVC HD transfer just seemed to lack a “pop.” That’s not to say it looks bad, it doesn’t. Colors tend to look a bit muted in this film, though there is a wide array of colors used in the film. Detail is fine, but the photography just seemed a bit off. I don’t know, it just didn’t seem to have the big production values that I’d associate with other films. Maybe it’s just me or maybe not. Still, it’s not horrible, just not something memorable – like the film itself.
Audio: How’s it sound?
Likewise the DTS HD Master Audio track seems just a bit flat. Having watched a great movie featuring a train, Snowpiercer, I thought there might be some comparison to that film in terms of sound. I was mistaken. Dialogue comes across as clean and crisp, and though the surrounds do offer up some general ambience, it too just seems a bit…flat. Maybe my disdain for the film had me looking at my watch few too many times, but there’s really nothing to get too excited about here.
Supplements: What are the extras?
Well, somehow it happened, all three Atlas Shrugged movies made it to Blu-ray. We’re rewarded with a series of interviews on this disc.
- On the Set of Atlas Shrugged: Who is John Galt? with Kristoffer Polaha – The actor who played the infamous John Galt in the film gives us a brief explanation of what drew him to the role and so on.
- On the Set of Atlas Shrugged: Who is John Galt? with Eric Allan Kramer – Pretty much the same as above except he played Ragnar Danneskjold.
- On the Set of Atlas Shrugged: Who is John Galt? with Dominic Daniel – Even more of the same with the actor who played Eddie Willers.
- On the Set of Atlas Shrugged: Who is John Galt? with John Carter – The Associate Producer gives us a bit of different information, but essentially it’s just more of the same ‘ol stuff.
- On the Set of Atlas Shrugged: Who is John Galt? at the State Science Institute – The most important thing to note is that director James Manera is chomping on a big cigar. Sorry Jimmy, but I’d check your ego if I were you.
- Digital HD Copy
