3rd sentence: “not for lack of good reason.” stupid me.
Mrs Rainman and I saw Atlas II on Saturday, and we are outside of Seattle. Told her it was probably a good thing we saw it opening weekend because I doubt it will still be in theatres next week. It was a good production of the middle part of Atlas, but even without reviews the theatre was empty for the 5PM Saturday show. I counted 10 souls ...
In regards to the movie itself ... yes, it was an improvement over Atlas I, yes, the special effects were pretty lame (how can the same jet pull away from you around every corner then you are suddenly within 100 feet of it again on EVERY shot until it goes thru the mirage ... then it cannot be found?) ... the dialog was actually pretty good ... a little corny but at least plausible ... but the worst part was character development.
Unless you had read the book, characters appearing out of nowhere with no clue as to thier significance then disappearing just as suddenly. Best example of this is the sequence of James going into the drug store, meeting Cherryl for the first time, inviting her into his limo ... next scene, James and Cherryl at the concert where the artist disappeared before the encore, next scene, Lillian insisting Hank go to James wedding and him not wanting to, then the wedding scene where Cherryl tells Dagny that she is on to her and going to protect James because she was the woman of the Taggart family now and Dagny saying thats OK because she was the man ... then Cherryl was gone the rest of the movie. Entire sequence ... 2 minutes tops.
If you are an Atlas fan ... definitly go see it, but as I said, it will probably be out of theatres in a week.