Atlas Shrugged Part 1

The first third (“Non-Contradiction”) of Ayn Rand’s epic novel gets a respectful (and generally respectable) filming by writers John Aglialoro and Brian Patrick O’Toole and director Paul Johansson. The movie effectively deploys its modest budget, but it might have worked better as a cable miniseries; it moves with the uncertain pace of an inexperienced director (and some wooden dialogue, but blame Rand for that), and it ends just as the story’s getting started. The cast has a daytime-drama, young-and-beautiful familiarity but no star names, although Taylor Schilling captures the icy passion of Rand’s Dagny Taggart, as does Grant Bowler the guarded aloofness of steel magnate Hank Rearden. Rand’s detractors will hate the movie as much as they hate her; her fans just the opposite, and for the same reasons.