Exhilarating and innovative on a cerebral level, Cloud Atlas is a compelling, albeit deeply unwieldy science-fiction epic placed into splendid effect

Rating: 8/10 (23 December 2017)

The Wachowski team collaborate with writer Tom Tykwer to spin English writer David Mitchell's highly complex novel of the same name into cinematic poetry. Scorching with uncompromising ambition and electrifying visual methodology, Cloud Atlas is an enormous roar of a cinematic project that is bound to divide people. David Mitchell's novel is written in a profoundly unwieldy style, making a daring attempt at balancing six interrelated storylines, that many described as "unfilmable". For the Wachowskis and co-writer Tom Tykwer (who also serves as co-director), unfilmable is not in their books. Their rendition of the seemingly undoable novel is a blooming science-fiction tale with relentless complexity, challenging philosophy, and an outlandish narrative structure that will lead people into coming out with high praise or extreme loathing, with a significantly small minority straying between the middle. To me, this star-studded film roars as a splendid cinematic achievement with glaring flaws that are not too hard to notice but are nonetheless overshadowed by the filmmakers' enchanting style, even if their ambition towers over the film's grasp. Telling as story spanning across six different periods within human history, this film opens up in 1849 in the Pacific Islands where American Lawyer Adam Ewing (played by Jim Sturgess) becomes a stow away on ship carrying a poor African-American man to slavery before challenging to crew in a battle of wills. Jump to 1936 Cambridge, England, we meet Robert Frobisher (played by Ben Whishaw), an English composer who collaborates with an elderly composer (played by Jim Broadbent) who has a dubious agenda hidden under his sleeve. Next, we are taken to 1973 San Francisco, where journalist Luisa Rey (played by Halle Berry) is trapped in an elevator, only to nuclear scientist (played by James D'Arcy) who informs him a diabolical plot to take down a nuclear reactor. This places her on the path of a violent assassin Bill Smoke (played by Hugo Weaving) who tries to outwit her plans. Next up, we come to 2012 London, England where elderly man Timothy Cavendish (also played by Jim Broadbent) who finds himself in the ruts of a retirement home he is wrongly enrolled in. Now jumping ahead to the future, we meet Sonmi-451 (played by Doona Bae) in 2144 Seoul, South Korea where she is subject to slavery at a futuristic fast-food restaurant run by her clones before crossing paths with Yoona-939 (played by Zhao Xun) to rebel against the corrupt system. Finally, we make to 2321 where tribesman Zachary (played by Tom Hanks) and his family are living in a post-apocalyptic society where technology no longer exist. Zachary cross paths with a mysterious woman (also played by Halle Berry) who has connections to the technologically advanced past.
Yes, describing the plot is nothing short of a mouthful. And many will asking what to do these six storylines have in common. The answers are slowly, but subtly unveiled throughout the film, which clocks just merely under three hours. While many will doubt that the runtime isn't inflated, many would be surprised to believe that this runtime might even be enough to fully flesh out of the storylines that take place, especially when viewers are giving the absurdly difficult task of trying to decipher the connection between each storyline. It is a powerfully complex narrative scope that strictly demands your attention in order to keep track of where the film is going on, something that most people may not be able to accomplish upon first viewing. Each storyline is sketched with a unique sense of humanity and melancholy that sheds the light on both the beauty and the darkness of humankind, while paying an absorbing message to how a single choice from the past and change a major course of society in the future. Some storylines are more compelling than others in terms of emotional twists and soundness. The story set in 1936 Cambridge with Ben Whishaw working as a composer for an aging musician is quite subtle as it touches on the forbidden love between two men who share a homosexual relationship, which is gravely prohibited in their society. The emotional payoff at the end of it leaves a brutal impact. The storyline taking place in the dystopian future of South Korea is equally compelling, especially with the Wachowskis' striking visual style, which pays sweet homages to science-fiction classics like 'Blade Runner' and 'The Matrix'. This one has the Wachowskis' handprints all over it. The 2012 London storyline has it moments with idiosyncratic humor and silliness, but perhaps not the most memorable or particularly interesting. The other three also have moments that grab at the heart with both emotional resonance and pulse-pounding tension, but it is hard not to feel that they could have been more fleshed out, especially when they task the actor with foreign accents that make their dialogue painful to understand.

As if balancing half a dozen storylines isn't a heavy enough weight to carry, the Wachowskis wield an interesting concept of casting each actor and actress in multiple roles spanning across each storyline, while associated them with more screentime to their main roles. Tom Hanks, easily the most recognizable, puts on a fine performance as the grungy tribesman in the sixth storyline, but journeys way outside his typecast with a series of goofy roles of characters cooked with occasionally laughable foreign accents and heavy prosthetics and make-up that often get a little distracting. It is awfully hard to buy Hanks as an 19th century English man with slightly seeding red hairline. Halle Berry does best in her role as both Luisa Rey in the 1973 storyline and the 2321 story, though she is slightly more memorable in the former. Hugo Weaving on the other hand, competes in his villainous typecast in each storyline, playing in roles that owe significant reminiscence to his role as Agent Smith in the 'Matrix' franchise. And here's a hilarious case-in-point, one of those roles is an elderly transgender woman. Jim Broadbent does his best in most of his roles, though perhaps his most memorable outing would be his shtick in the 2012 London storyline. Ben Whishaw and Jim Sturgress have their moments in their respective roles, but there is no doubt that they have done more remarkable works in the past.
Cloud Atlas is destined to leave people divided in terms of structure, scope, and innovation. But that does not take away from the cerebral beauty that makes the film such a pleasant, if not masterful cinematic experience. The prolonged runtime will alienate some, but for everyone else, is an cinematic achievement that deserves to be embraced.