Tom Hanks and Halle Berry are a Delight

Rating: 5/10 (18 August 2013)

I am almost always willing to watch a Tom Hanks movie. Except for those Da Vinci Code movies, he has chosen characters I would enjoy watching. So along with Halle Berry, they get to play make-up and dress-up as they gleefully play a multitude of roles in this reincarnation movie. As the thread of the different characters in different time periods unfolds, there is an exuberant feeling that there is some brilliance behind the filmmaking. I think of the densely detailed "Fight Club". Some very visceral events are presented with such gravitas that you could find yourself gripping your seat.
But then the movie presents new stories with more conventional (meaning less realistic) plot points that weaken the film as a whole. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the extended runtime as we watch this story weave it's way to the resolution. Initially, these episodes pack a punch that feels as though there was a heavy emotional payoff coming. But then there is perhaps an overreach in trying to deliver more conventional third story action pieces, not-so-surprising twists, and that cliché last second rescue from certain doom. I lost any deeper emotional connection with our main characters at that point.
I still appreciate the matrix-like view of reincarnation, affecting all of our personalities as they simultaneously exist across many time periods. It could have been brilliant. But then it starts to look like "Attack of the Clones". It is definitely worth renting the DVD like I did.