4.8 | / 10 |
Users | 3.5 | |
Reviewer | 1.5 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
Approaching collapse, the nation's economy is quickly eroding. As crime and fear take over the countryside, the government continues to exert its brutal force against the nation's most productive who are mysteriously vanishing - leaving behind a wake of despair.
Starring: Kristoffer Polaha, Laura Regan, Peter Mackenzie, Greg Germann, Larry CedarSci-Fi | 100% |
Drama | Insignificant |
Mystery | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English SDH, French, Spanish
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
UV digital copy
Region A (locked)
Movie | 1.5 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 1.5 | |
Overall | 1.5 |
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? 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).
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.
The supplements section consists entirely of interviews with the following people:
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.
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