"Atlas Shrugged" Hits Theatres

(ABCNEWS.com)

"Atlas Shrugged," the movie adaptation of Ayn Rand's 1957 classic, hits theatres today.

The novel, which centers around railroad executive Dagny Taggart as she fights to keep her business alive as American society crumbles around her, has become a favorite of conservatives, who value the book's free-market themes, and the trailer was recently screened at the Conservative Political Action Conference.

The movie, which stars Taylor Schilling as Taggart and was directed by Paul Johansson, will be split into two parts, with part one scheduled to open in limited release on April 15, 2011.

Click here to watch the trailer.

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The reviews are in:

According to the Wall Street Journal "the first installment of a projected trilogy, doesn't give the book a fair shake. In terms of craftsmanship it's barely professional, except for Taylor Schilling's tightly focused performance as Dagny Taggart, the heroine trying to keep her railroad company from being destroyed by a government that's hostile to individual achievement."

According to The Hollywood Reporter "many scenes are devoted to dull conversations among business fatcats about the economics of railways and steel, central industries that helped drive the nation 60 years ago but seem like afterthoughts today (Amtrak, anyone?). Updating the story would provide a provocative test to any writer but could certainly be done; however, to do so without acknowledging the present-day realities of high-tech industries, outsourcing, shifting transportation modes and advanced information technology (the characters here actually read newspapers) places the action in an unrecognizable twilight zone."