An Incredible Achievement

Rating: 10/10 (15 March 2013)

What makes this film so incredible is the fact that it is an adaptation of what was labelled as an unfilmable novel. David Mitchell's 'Cloud Atlas' "erases the boundaries of time, style and genre" and the film perfectly brings this combination of six interrelated stories to life. Although the novel follows a 'Pyramid' form (initially only telling the first half of each story), starting in 1849 (the Chatham Islands), moving up through the times until we reach 2321, the post apocalyptic island known as 'big island'. After this, it progresses backwards leading to a climax and resolution to every enduring tale and ending with the final line "But was an ocean, but a multitude of drops?". The film follows a different format, a format which is perfect for a film layout, and the screenplay which is absolutely perfect. The creators of the Matrix have devised an ingenious Screenplay that reflects both a desire to dive into the realms of their own imagination, and to also improve on an already incredible novel. Whether any other viewer, other than myself can enjoy the style and mixture of six different genres, this to me, is a very underrated masterpiece.
To put the films outline in its simplest form: Jim Sturgess plays a naive lawyer during the time of the California gold rush in 1849, Ben Wishaw plays a musician with a persistence to compose with his idol in 1937 and Halle Berry plays a journalist thrown into deep water in 1973. Jim Broadbent's 'Timothy Cavendish' is forced into a retirement village from which he cannot escape in 2012, Somni-451 (Doona Bae) discusses her story with an Archivist in 2144 and Tom Hanks plays Zachry, who embarks on an unexpected adventure on 'Big Island' in 2321. All of these stories are interrelated and connected through various links, and combine to make an incredible story.
Having actors play multiple roles may annoy many viewers, but it efficiently limits the amount of faces that need to be remembered and keeps you thinking non-stop. The characters that each individual actor plays have certain links between them. It ties together relationships between actors such as Halle Berry and Tom Hanks as well as Doona Bae and Jim Sturgess. There are also some fun games you can mentally play whilst watching this film, like "Where's Halle Berry?" (Here's a Hint: In one story she plays a tattooed/painted tribe women who is seen for all of 3 seconds, and in 2144, she plays a man. Yes that's right! A man!). The costume and make-up in this film is top-notch. As is the amazing cinematography and mind-blowing visual effects. The Original Score is also a triumphant achievement (thanks to Tom Twyker) and to believe that it only received a Golden Glove nomination and not an Oscar Nomination, is very disappointing.
The Wachowskis seem to have a liking for casting Hugo Weaving in their film roles, and Weaving's character in 2321 (a figment of Tom Hanks's imagination) resembles Agent Smith in many ways. Cunning, mysterious and frightening. Weaving has played some great roles for the Wachowskis such as Agent Smith and V in comic-adapted 'V for Vendetta', but now they can add Haskel Moore, a difficult named composer, a dangerous assassin (Bill Smoke), a female nurse!, the Boardman of 2144 and the already discussed, Old Georgie, a figment of Tom Hanks imagination.
The real heart and soul of this film, lies in Tom Hanks' characters. And not only that, but also Tom Hanks himself, who contains such effortless grace and a fantastic screen presence. Although there are six different main characters (all played by different actors), Hanks seems to just stand out with his great diversity from an Irish thug, to an evil doctor, to a cowardly-unlikely hero named Zachary doing what he feels is right. Zachary proves to be the character that 'Cloud Atlas' ends up being based around. Whilst Doona Bae and Jim Sturgess do hold the emotional soul of this film (particularly in 'An Orison of Somni 451' and 'The Pacific Journal of Adam Ewing'), Hanks delivers an Oscar worthy performance.
Hugh Grant makes some pretty unlikely (as well as disgusting) appearances, and does a pretty good job moving out of his comfort zone of British Romantic Comedies. I take my hat off to Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Jim Broadbent, Jim Sturgess, Ben Withshaw, James D'Arcy, Hugo Weaving, Hugh Grant, Keith David, Doona Bae and Susan Sarandon; for all playing multiple roles and doing awesome jobs. It is like watching 6 different movies in one. It demands multiple viewings! <10 out of 10> Beautiful in every sense of the word!