From James Burke:
Former Southside Chicagoan here. I have a credit on “Atlas Shrugged” for some brief work on the film, but have no gain here, or Tea Party ties or interests. Not a Rand fan either.
I think you were unfair. I was expecting the movie to be laughably inept based upon your review. Wisconsin Desert? Breathless urgency from the news?
I think a correction should be noted. When they left Wyatt’s house for Wisconsin that was the beginning of a travel sequence from Colorado and onward, albeit rushed. That was clearly not a mistake — more footage would have been nice though. You devoted a whole paragraph to something that just isn’t true.
Secondly, the media coverage within the storyline seemed accurate considering it was the first train to reach 250 mph, and industry now largely depends on rail in the world of this story.
Comments like those are misleading, and I’m disappointed you are picking on the film in such a way.
It’s a **1/2 star film for me. I think it was dressed nicely and ready to go, but didn’t go very far. Would be forgivable if there was a whole movie or parts 2 and 3 were a promise. I give it points for it being a unique effort. More soap opera, and definitely not propaganda. Best a companion piece for fans (Randheads???) of the book.
James J Burke
Graphic Designer – Additional Photography
Ebert: When they were talking about going to Wisconsin I guess I expected to see some cheesehead country. I didn’t realize they were only shown setting out for Wisconsin.
