Best Film of the Year, Astonishing, Breathtaking, Moving!

Rating: 10/10 (2 December 2014)

Warning, Spoilers!! A dizzying, three-hour adaptation of David Mitchell's era-hopping 2004 novel, it spans time and space to tells six separate but interlinked tales that begin in the Pacific Ocean in 1849 and conclude in post-apocalyptic Hawaii in the 24th Century. Cloud Atlas is one of the most structurally deft and brilliantly edited films in recent memory, with the Wachowskis bringing the visual panache of The Matrix and Perfume man Tykwer his feel for character and drama. With actors popping up everywhere and even changing race (at one point James D'Arcy goes Asian), the emphasis is on universality and interconnected souls. It's a gimmick that can distract and introduce unintentional humour. There's never a moment where Cloud Atlas drags; the decision to constantly cut between stories (a technique handled differently from the novel) works extremely well, and even though some moments are many times better than others, the film sweeps along on its own batty momentum. Mostly Cloud Atlas will keep you enraptured, for its sheer dexterity alone. Attempting to summarise Cloud Atlas in a paragraph is nigh on impossible, with the opening half hour skipping along with the dizzying momentum of a haunted television - the channel keeps changing, and you can only guess what you'll end up seeing next. My Favorite movie from 2012 and most likely no other will top this any time soon! I truth be told saw this in the Cinema 4 times and at home another 4! Film making at it's best!!