I liked Part 1! Should I watch this?

if your standards are so low that you liked the first one, you'll probably love part 2!

I was a little concerned about the cast change, but overall it seemed to work pretty well. No actor was so iconic that they couldn't be replaced. I felt the pacing was a little better and it was equally entertaining while, like the first film, didn;t dwell on "preaching" and when it did deliver a faithful monologue it flowed better than in the first.

The "who's John Galt" lines are still clumsy and work worse than they do in the novel. But overall, i was quite satisfied with Part II.

If you enjoyed the first one I think you'd do well with he second one as well.



"De gustibus non disputandum est"
#3

You should watch the second one, understanding in advance that you may be a little thrown because they recast the whole thing.

Overall, I think Part II had better acting and pacing, and more exciting sequences. The first one was awfully heavy on boardroom scenes and a lot of talky-talk about the qualities of metal. But opinions vary sharply on the cast. I thought Taylor Schilling was too young and glamorous to play Dagny, and Grant Bowler was too smooth. Jason Beghe struck me exactly right, and Samantha Mathis was believable (even though she falls far short of Cate Blanchett, my ideal choice for the role). Unfortunately, the two actors did not display any sexual chemistry in Part II whatsoever.

The big improvement was D'Anconia. How much of that was direction and how much acting, I don't know, but the first incarnation made him seem like far too much of an idiotic frivolous womanizing playboy to be believable as a highly intelligent and competent industrialist. Esai Morales did a much better job on the latter aspect, which is by far more important to the narrative--particularly in the money speech at James Taggart's wedding, and his attempt to persuade Rearden to join the strike.