Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
Confusing Trailer: ‘Atlas Shrugged’
By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Saturday February 12, 2011 @ 1:17pm PSTTags: Atlas Shrugged, Movie Trailers, Movies, Video
This article was printed from http://www.deadline.com/2011/02/confusing-trailer-atlas-shrugged/
COMMENTS (180)
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Atlas Shrugged?
I yawned.
WTF? Is this the CBS movie of the week? This book is a masterpiece but this misses everything that made the book great.
This is part 1 of 3. I’d assume we don’t even meet Galt in this movie. I further assume that part 3, if it gets made, will consist entirely of Galt’s endless speech.
…and now shoot yourself and we will not have to read this idiocity anymoore. Yei!!!!!
All the moochers and looters of the world will necessarily despise this film — just like they did the book. Are they too stupid to understand it?
No they aren’t. It’s too ridiculous to make sense.
After playing Bioshock there’s no way I could ever take Ayn Rand seriously again. Luckily, she’s not a serious person, so no great loss.
What was that?? Was this a Funny or Die sketch? This was the one the all time worst trailers for a movie ever released. At the least the acting was top notch.
Yeah, the acting may be good, but I’ve never seen so many TV actors in a feature film.And is the movie actually directed by the father from One Tree Hill?
somebody please shoot me in the face. This looks God-awful. Like Slash & Black-Eyed-Peas performing at the super-bowl.
Really? THAT bad?
NOTHING is as bad as the Black-Eyed Peas performing ……. anywhere.
I’ll reserve judgment on the film until I see it; it’s a treasured book but this trailer doesn’t convey that. If you know the story, the trailer is understandable, but it doesn’t sell the movie to newcomers, that’s for sure.
I’m guessing the director was heavily involved with this trailer. Way too many bites that are super plot specific, in all the wrong places. Virtually no tracking whatsoever. Feels like the first cut from a green trailer editor working with no producer.
Your words make me feel as if I’m missing something, as if we’re living through the pinnacle days of trailer editing and we’re just not getting them released to us. Because frankly speaking trailers nowadays categorically suck. Badly. And it’s only an attestation to the power of film itself that people go out there and watch movies nevertheless.
Please. There are plenty of good trailers made every year. Mark Woolen & Associates is probably the best example of consistently quality, even artful, trailers. You don’t have to be in the “golden age” of something to know if it’s good or not. This trailer is bad. Period.
And your statement about what motivates people to see a movie is a massive generalization. Trailers are the first line of marketing and often sway audience interest dramatically depending upon their effectiveness.
IMDB tells me it’s real, but given the number of A-list actors who have expressed interest in the project, I find it difficult to believe that this is anything but an expensive fake.
How is this confusing?
It just looks bad that’s all.
Politics aside, this thing will blow. All the “movie helper” tricks heaped on this trailer can’t hide the awful B-list actors, hackneyed dialogue, and Lifetime channel directing. Drum hits and flash cuts does not a movie make.
I’ll drink to that!!
what was that i don’t even?
haha uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh what????
It’s clearly preaching to the choir (excuse the expression!). The book is huge and it looks like they chose to take the John Galt Line part for the opening movie so they can end on a high note versus the moochers and the collectivists. The actors nail the one-dimensionality of Rand’s characters, tho. Some of the clearly non-Rand dialog is jarring (“If we’re going to take him down…”). But if you look at the trailer as an outsider, ignoring that you have read the book, what the hell is the movie ABOUT?!!?
Her characters are anything but one dimensional! The main character, Dagny Taggart, is quite complex.
As for Francisco d’Anconia, he is far too complex to get a handle on.
What’s confusing about it?
Well, for starters, the whole “Who is John Galt” line is an awesome non sequitor in this. You can literally splice that line into any film’s trailer and it will make just as much sense in context as it does here.
“Ask yourself young padawan… Who is John Galt?” (Giant letters across the screen: Who is… John Galt? Trailer then goes back to whatever the hell the movie seems to be about.)
i thought the trailer was awesome- so much better than i had anticipated. don’t recognize any of the actors & i think that’s a bonus…
They actually think there will be a part 2 to this? That looks like a fan film trailer.
Commentors: if you feel this trailer is shitty, don’t say it. Otherwise, Glenn Beck will blacklist you like its 1951.
Let them comment. The last batch of commies made great ditch diggers and maids for those who love this country and free enterprise. The first batch of REDs is almost all dead.
I think Confusing is putting it mildly. I literally have no idea what this film supposed to be about.
Have you read the book?
Yes, I have. It’s like Lord of the Flies, but with adults. Also liked the kinky sex in the Railway tunnel.
BTW if you really want to see futuristic high speed railways look at what the moochers in Europe, China and Japan are building – all with government Euro, Yen and Yuan. Dollars don’t matter anymore. Thanks John Galt!
I imagine if you have never heard of The Lord of the Rings that trailer would be just as confusing.
Million have read the book and will watch with with the normal interests:
Will this be a period piece or brought up to contemporary times?
Do the actors look as we imagined the characters in our minds?
Will they dilute the strong laissez-faire message?
I was pleasantly surprised on all fronts and look forward to the finished product.
I watched it a second time after I made my comment. Let’s try to make this sensible …
“In a world where the productive are being bled by a greedy government, one woman with a nationwide railroad to run must stake her life and her reputation on a new untested metal created by one man. This is their story. This is our story. And you will leave the theater asking the most important question of our time, Who is John Galt?”
Well, hm, really, even that doesn’t help much.
Wasn’t this rushed into production literally weeks before the producers’ rights were due to expire, solely so they could retain the rights? (A la Roger Corman’s Fantastic Four movie.) I’m amazed it’s actually getting released in theaters.
This is the kind of headline that makes me want to watch these trailers. When you put “Hot Trailer” I think “Sponsored Trailer”. Everyone who comes here wants your unabridged take on Hollywood. Start weighing in on these trailers and more of us will watch them, regardless of whether you like them or not.
Seriously!! WHAT D SAID!!
Thirded.
Is this a joke? No, seriously: this isn’t a real trailer, is it?!
Not confusing at all, if you’ve read the book.
So anyone who watches a film adaptation or wants to has to read the source material to understand it?
The producers of The Watchmen thought so.
Watchmen flopped.
Not confusing if you’ve read the book…
This is the exact reason why stars are needed for more expensive films like this. Looks like a big budget B movie and whomever put money into this was the stupidest person in the world to have no stars in it. I hope they own a lot of google stock!
The budget for this ended up being only $5million…..
Stars don’t equal talent…..Sounds like a bunch of union whiners not getting their fair share of work….better go call that babysitter….I mean your Rep that finds work for you… pumpkin
Don’t be ridiculous. This isn’t a non-union film. Even your smallest film festival submission has to be a SAG ultra low contract these days. I can guarantee you that this film used union talent. So put that in your pipe and smoke it, all of those who will assume that the folks who made this movie are 100% on board with its message. Or (pardon me) with the book’s message, as the trailer sends absolutely no message at all.
It actually sums up the story for the first part of the novel really well, but… That’s it? I don’t know, the aesthetics is so boring, so simple and normal. Ayn Rand described such a visually striking world, I’m sure their budget is low, but this is too little. Don’t make justice to the novel, I think.
Atlas Shrugged is not just a story about a railroad. It’s about a world crashing down, corrupting itself from the inside. This trailer looks like a story about a railroad, which is not enough.
Good analysis, Leandro. Agreed.
what in the world was that????
What was that? Was that a Funny or Die sketch? Wow. Stunning awful trailer. At least the acting was top notch.
Why no stars? Did Koch finance this?