A powerful and labyrinthine totem to humanity.

Rating: 10/10 (31 May 2014)

Engaging in every sense of the word and on all spectrums - intellectually, emotionally, visually and imaginatively. Cloud Atlas is so thematically dense that it is surely an enigma that will and should be debated about for the foreseeable future.
From a technical front, the original score is surely one of the greatest and finest compositions created solely for a film in the last 10 years, intrinsic to the film yet sweeping with awe-inducing grandeur - the re-envisioning of which only adds to the thematic accessibility and complexity of this epic tone poem of a film. The cinematography is stunning, saturated, and kinetic; distinct to each of the 6 sections without the shifts being jarring. The production design and costumes are intricate and lavish despite the need for each of the 6 different time-lines required their own different style.
But it is not without fault, the tone shifts don't always work, the acting swings from Donna Bae incredible to Halle Berry poor, and the much talked about makeup is an odd hit-and-miss process.
Cloud Atlas is likely a contender for the most divisive film since at least Moulin Rouge, also a barmy but dazzling experience, but not equal in my view - you simply have to be on for the ride or not, there is no in between.
With all this said, it is still a great film, one of the best of the last 10 years even only for its sheer ambition, accessibility and thematic power; not to mention the visionary and surreal narrative techniques expanding the possibilities of cinema, or at least what is accepted (or not accepted) in cinema.
To not be bowled over by this film you must be a cynic (or just a critic).