The Strike Productions has released the first trailer for the upcoming medias of their Atlas Shrugged Trilogy.
Honestly, after the terrible Part I that they released last May, I didn’t think that the production company would bother making the second one, and not hearing anything about it for over a year seemed to confirm that, but now, nearly a year and a half after the first part hit theaters, the second of planned three films based on Ayn Rand’s 1957 novel is on its way.
Perhaps the filmmakers agreed with my review, that the worst part of the first film was the absolutely wooden performances of nearly everyone in the cast because this film has an entirely new bunch of actors. As far as I can tell, everyone was replaced, from protagonist to minor support roles. Of course, they also got a new team of screen writers and a new director, so I guess they wanted to cut all ties to that travesty. In fact, the only name in the credits that I can find which is the same as the first film is cinematographer Ross Berryman. A good thing I guess, since the cinematography of that first film was its only redeeming quality.
Even with all these new names in the credits, however, I can’t imagine who is going to go see this film. It’s a pure vanity project, paid for by a group of deep pocketed Republicans with an agenda, by a studio created only for the purpose of this trilogy – somehting I didn’t know when I saw the first one, and the political message is baseball-bat clear even in this simple trailer. The subtle messages about Capitalism versus Socialism presented in the book are not so subtle here. Likely, the backers don’t actually care if the film makes money, they just want to get their message out.
This is the official synopsis:
The global economy is on the brink of collapse. Unemployment has risen to 24%. Gas is now $42 per gallon. Brilliant creators, from artists to industrialists, continue to mysteriously disappear at the hands of the unknown.
Dagny Taggart, Vice President in Charge of Operations for Taggart Transcontinental, has discovered what may very well be the answer to a mounting energy crisis – found abandoned amongst the ruins of a once productive factory, a revolutionary motor that could seemingly power the World.
But, the motor is dead… there is no one left to decipher its secret… and, someone is watching.
It’s a race against the clock to find the inventor before the motor of the World is stopped for good.
Atlas Shrugged: Part II hits theaters on October 12th, 2012.
