Rating summary

Movie		1.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		1.5

Atlas Shrugged Part III: Who Is John Galt? Blu-ray Movie Review

Who is John Galt—this time?

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman January 7, 2015

Like a lot of preening adolescents who considered themselves intellectually superior to the vast majority of the citizenry, I went through a rather rabid Ayn Rand phase in my middle teen years. I didn’t just stop at Rand, mind you—along with my shelf worn copies of The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged it wasn’t unusual to see me tooling around with my Viking Portable Nietzsche in tow as well, as if to prove to any disbelievers that one small step for Übermensch had already been taken, albeit by a perhaps unlikely suspect. It’s always frankly surprised me to find grown adults who are “new” to Randian polemics and who spout Objectivist theory as if it had been delivered from on high via a medium more akin to a burning bush than a mere novel, a tendency that somehow seems more in line with overheated younger temperaments. That said, it’s similarly tended to surprise me that there are those who, like I did, became interested in Rand at a relatively youthful age but who never “outgrew” her influence. I’ve always felt that Rand is a fitting counterweight to a kind of mindless selflessness which in its most extreme manifestation is what Rand called Collectivism, a lack of consciousness of one's very being that was after all one of her chief bugaboos. But it’s likewise appeared “obvious” to me (certainly a contentious affirmation, at least for Randians) that Rand only had half of the story down. As Rabbi Hillel the Elder famously proclaimed, “If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am not for others, what am I?” Rand obviously championed the first half of that maxim, while disparaging the second half. All of this is merely to indicate that Ayn Rand has had an impact on my life, for both better and worse, as she continues to have for people to this day. There was a fairly visceral reaction to my colleague Casey Broadwater's Atlas Shrugged: Part I Blu-ray review and Atlas Shrugged: Part II - The Strike Blu-ray review, with some accusing Casey of not being acquainted with Rand's actual writings. In my case, that would be a completely inaccurate statement, for not only have I read virtually all of Rand's work (down to her dryer essays), I even once appeared as the prosecuting attorney in Rand's play The Night of January 16th, so I'll simply say that I think my overall knowledge of Rand and her writings is significant. That of course has nothing to do with whether I continue to champion Rand's ideals, or even (more saliently) whether this film is any good (it isn't). With regard to fans of Rand, many of whom tend to despise Collectivist behavior like "groupthink," there's an ironically alarming homogeneity to their discourse and philosophical musings. Perhaps one way to best illustrate this is to mention how Rand has even become something of an internet meme, with Facebook postings trumpeting her supposed "movie reviews" (a parody piece). But there's another much shared article offering Dick Cavett's rather concise demurral of a once proposed Rand guest shot on his old talk show, a refusal that resulted after she insisted that he not disagree with any element of her philosophy. And that seems to be the takeaway that many are left with vis a vis Rand: she is, to quote a certain Rumpole of the Bailey, she who must be obeyed, and many of her followers will similarly not cotton any dissent or even the slightest qualms about Rand's philosophical formulations.

Atlas Shrugged Part III: Who is John Galt? picks up at the point where even ardent Randians often feel like tossing Atlas Shrugged across the room, in a startling plot development that plays like an overheated reboot of Lost Horizon (could that be why producer John Aglialoro once suggested that Part III might be a musical?). Railroad tycoon Dagny Taggart (Laura Regan, replacing Atlas Shrugged: Part II - The Strike’s Samantha Mathis, who in turn replaced Atlas Shrugged: Part I’s Taylor Schilling) stumbles upon the top secret paradise where all the world’s “makers” (to utilize a phrase from contemporary Randian parlance) have disappeared to, in order to create their own Objectivist Utopia. Meanwhile, the world is going to hell in a handbasket, due to all those pesky “taker” types who, in the best Randian fashion, are exaggerated stereotypes of mendacious, talentless schlubs (for want of a better word), on the government dole and psychic vampires, to boot.

Dagny meets the man of her dreams, the enigmatic John Galt (Kristoffer Polaha), who is the guru behind the strike bringing the economy to the brink of disaster, as well as the guiding light behind the Utopian society which is snatching away all the world’s “Atlases”, just to show the unevolved how needy they really are. Rand’s polemics are hard enough to swallow in their gargantuan original form, but here they’re played to the rafters with all the nuance of a demagogue, an ironic result given the fact that most demagogues appeal to the very people that Randians tend to disparage. There are Randian demagogues nonetheless (despite what some followers may aver), and they’re actually here in the film, courtesy of several cameos highlighting Fox News regulars like Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck and even Ron Paul.

The sad thing about all of this is that there is no doubt an exciting, even meaningful, film to be made from Atlas Shrugged, but this botched triptych has been a nonstarter from virtually the first moment. Though supported by such conservative think tanks as Freedom Works, the creative staff’s inexperience in the medium of film has provided plenty of stumbling blocks along the way, perhaps nowhere more noticeable than in the fact that none of the three films in this would be trilogy share any of the same principal cast members. Is this some sort of hallucinatory Ayn Rand adaptation, where even seemingly immutable icons like John Galt can assume different forms?

Despite its enduring appeal, Atlas Shrugged was a product of its era and probably needed to be produced as a period piece to really resonate fully. Does anyone buy the fact that the one extant industry in this reimagined world taking place “the day after tomorrow” is a railroad? It would be laughable if it weren’t played with such deadly earnestness throughout all three films—and in fact maybe it’s laughable because of that fact. But even putting aside questions of "updating" (or not, as the case may be) Atlas Shrugged, this film is structurally cobbled together in an incredibly flimsy manner. Virtually every main character is introduced with a freeze frame and a superimposed name and brief explanation of who they are and how they fit in the story. A narrator is virtually ubiquitous as well, supposedly helping to bridge the increasingly bizarre narrative gaps. This is clumsy filmmaking at best, and one might be prone to cynically tell the conservative creatives behind the film that liberals at least know how to make movies (again, for better or worse).

When my own eldest son starting expressing an interest in Rand a couple of years ago, I gave him what I thought was a sensible piece of advice. “If you’re going to read Rand,” I offered, “read The Fountainhead. It’s everything Atlas Shrugged is, and less.” He didn’t really get the joke, but for those of you who have waded through Rand tomes large and small, there’s probably general agreement that she delivers as many ideas in a more concise manner in The Fountainhead than she does in Atlas Shrugged. Even the most perspicacious readers tend to wilt under the endless monologue Galt delivers toward the end of the novel, something that’s reproduced in the film in an obviously abbreviated form, but which turns out to be no less stultifying. There’s a refreshing vibrancy to The Fountainhead that is nowhere to be found in Atlas Shrugged. The same might be said of the film adaptations of both properties. While King Vidor’s 1949 film of Rand’s tale of architect Howard Roark may skimp on the actual philosophy, tending to exploit mid-century Hollywood glamor in its place, it still gets Rand’s points across in a visceral but accessible manner. Atlas Shrugged plays like a screed being shouted by a slightly deranged harridan.

Atlas Shrugged Part III: Who Is John Galt? Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Atlas Shrugged Part III: Who is John Galt? is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. This digitally shot feature continues the generally fine if undistinguished look of the first two installments in the series. In what some may find a somewhat humorous development, much like the revolving door spinning around the trilogy's principal cast, this third installment was reportedly shot with the Canon C500 (according to the IMDb), while the first two films featured the Red One and Arri Alexa. (The film's closing credits actually show a logo for the Canon EOS series.) As my colleague Casey Broadwater has mentioned in his reviews of the first two installments, Atlas Shrugged has the look of any competently shot made for television movie. That said, there's a lot of stock footage (and stills) filling up this third film, including some that exhibit a less clear and sharp image than the bulk of the film. Perhaps oddly some of the establishing (aerial) shots of the Utopian valley of "makers" seem to have been sourced from an interlaced master, and then perhaps even upscaled at that (see screenshot 7). There's also quite a bit of color grading on display, with some sequences playing out in black and white (see screenshot 1), and other having an almost sepia toned ambience. When not artificially tweaked, colors are accurate looking and nicely saturated. Detail is generally good, though the CGI continues to look very soft and at times problematic. There are some occasional displays of banding, especially when black and white sequences are pushed (there are "white outs" instead of fadeouts which tend to exacerbate this issue).

Atlas Shrugged Part III: Who Is John Galt? Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

As with the first two installments, Atlas Shrugged Part III: Who is John Galt? features a workmanlike if uninspired DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track. Surround activity comes in spurts, with expected effects like a Taggart train panning through the appropriate channels, but most of the soundstage tends to be filled by Elia Cmiral's hackneyed score (where's Richard Halley when you really need him?). Dialogue is nevertheless presented very cleanly and clearly, and the track offers excellent fidelity with no problems to report.

Atlas Shrugged Part III: Who Is John Galt? Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The supplements section consists entirely of interviews with the following people:

• On the Set of Atlas Shrugged: Who is John Galt? with Kristoffer Polaha (John Galt) (1080p; 2:47)


• On the Set of Atlas Shrugged: Who is John Galt? with Eric Allan Kramer (Ragnar Danneskjold) (1080p; 1:37)


• On the Set of Atlas Shrugged: Who is John Galt? with Dominic Daniel (Eddie Willers) (1080p; 1:21)


• On the Set of Atlas Shrugged: Who is John Galt? with Associate Producer John Carter (1080p; 1:30)


• On the Set of Atlas Shrugged: Who is John Galt? at the State Science Institute (1080p; 1:45) features director James Manera. You can tell he's the director because he has a giant stogie.

Atlas Shrugged Part III: Who Is John Galt? Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Ayn Rand was no lover of Hollywood, despite her career there. But she also wasn't exactly a big fan of Christianity, at least in its most "servant" based mode. So what would Ms. Rand have made of this film's attempt to mythologize John Galt as a Christ figure, replete with a quasi- crucifixion scene? Rand's philosophy has morphed into something rather odd in our contemporary world, where epigraphs like "Howard Roark laughed" or "Who is John Galt?" have taken on unexpected meanings. That "lost in translation" feeling is probably nowhere more pronounced than in this chaotic film.