Atlas Shrugged: Part II 2012

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: I didn't hate this movie. The first one was far worse -- mercifully, the cast and director have all been replaced. Read more

Manohla Dargis, New York Times: The producers are going to have to hire a better director if they want moviegoers to be curious enough about this Galt guy to buy a ticket for the presumptive third and final chapter. Read more

Scott Tobias, AV Club: Proving the theorem from Todd Solondz's Palindromes that different actors can play the same role without losing much continuity, Samantha Mathis plays Dagny with all the lifelessness Taylor Schilling brought to the original role. Read more

Todd McCarthy, Hollywood Reporter: If the novel Atlas Shrugged is ultimate libertarian porn, then the first two installments of the screen adaptation are soggy softcore. Read more

Sheri Linden, Los Angeles Times: Director John Putch struggles to find balance or generate a single spark from the clunky mix of romance, political diatribe and thriller. Read more

Kyle Smith, New York Post: "Atlas Shrugged: Part II" is political economy written with crayon. Read more

Tirdad Derakhshani, Philadelphia Inquirer: A disaster as a film, Atlas also is laughable in its presentation of Rand's ideology. Read more

Alonso Duralde, TheWrap: The people behind the Atlas Shrugged series of films have things they want to tell you, and just to make sure that you know what they are, the movies tell you, and tell you, and then tell you again. Read more

Dennis Harvey, Variety: It's consistent with its predecessor as a somewhat awkward translation of Ayn Rand's 1957 novel to our current era, handled with bland telepic-style competency. Read more

Alan Scherstuhl, Village Voice: Seriously, if this is the best promotion of itself that the free market can manage, it really would benefit from the help of a Ministry of Culture or something. Read more

Mark Jenkins, Washington Post: Rather than refresh the cast with new actors, the producers would have done better to just digitally reanimate Patricia Neal and Gary Cooper, the stars of the 1949 adaptation of Rand's The Fountainhead. Read more