Just saw the film and here are my impressions in no particular order:
- Given the subject matter, I doubt there will be a single objective review of this film (pun sort of intended) since just about everyone will review the politics and not the movie.
- I think they tried to squeeze too much of the book’s plot into the screenplay, even with three films they still were pushing it, and I think several scenes will come across as unnecessarily cryptic to the uninitiated.
- I think the casting was pretty much spot on.
- I also think the shift to setting the events in the near future was inspired. It aggressively draws the parallels between the books events and the current state of the country in a way that IMO will probably draw in those viewers who might be unfamiliar with the book’s plot.
- The movie’s a polemic, which is fine because the book was a polemic.
- Judging by the previews I saw with the film, the distributors aren’t quite sure who the audience is. (Independent film about relationships, a Christian movie about fatherhood, an agonizing look at the immolation of Mel Gibson’s movie career?)
- Those who think Ayn Rand as a Medicare recipient is somehow a critique of her philosophy are engaging in the same sort of argument that those on the right use to critique so many people who argue for higher taxes– i.e. Michael Moore is free to cut an extra check to the U.S.Treasury any time he wants.