'Atlas Shrugged: Part 2' Trailer Makes Us Shrug...Again

With the upcoming release of Atlas Shrugged: Part 2, there's a question on everyone's lips. No, it isn't "Who is John Galt?", it's "Why did they make another one?".  The first Atlas Shrugged was an unmitigated disaster: a boring, sub TV-level train-wreck (pun very much intended) that even Ayn Rand fanatics couldn't bring themselves to care about.  You'd think the creators would trust the free market and hang up the towel, but we're getting yet another cheap-looking gasbag of a film, if this trailer is any indication.

The saddest thing is that this whole project could have been interesting, if the people behind it had any idea of how to actually adapt something.  I'm no Ayn Rand fan, but anyone who has read the book knows there's more than enough weird sci-fi elements to at least make it entertaining.  Heck, a well-written screenplay could have even taken Rand's philosophy of selfishness and placed it in a context that would have actually connected with people.  Judging from how well the first one turned out, I don't think that's gonna happen.

Here's the official plot synopsis:

The global economy is on the brink of collapse. Unemployment has risen to 24%. Gas is now $42 per gallon. Brilliant creators, from artists to industrialists, continue to mysteriously disappear at the hands of the unknown.

Dagny Taggart, Vice President in Charge of Operations for Taggart Transcontinental, has discovered what may very well be the answer to a mounting energy crisis - found abandoned amongst the ruins of a once productive factory, a revolutionary motor that could seemingly power the World.

But, the motor is dead... there is no one left to decipher its secret... and, someone is watching.

It's a race against the clock to find the inventor before the motor of the World is stopped for good.