Forget an Atlas, you're going to need a GPS

Rating: 6/10 (21 May 2014)

For a film with multiple directors and 6 different story-lines (and even several different genres within a single movie), it wasn't quite the train wreck that I expected. The excellent cinematography and the ensemble cast were its saving points, and I must admit that the premise of such a film in itself is unique. And while I did enjoy seeing the actors play varying roles in different time-lines, I'm on the fence as to the effectiveness of the make-up and costumes. Some were very good (Hugo Weaving as the demonic Old Georgie) and on the other hand, very cheap and cartoonish (Donna Bae, an Asian actress, as the 19th century Caucasian female, Tilda Ewing). Not that I have an issue with an actor of one race playing the role of a character from another race. It's acting, so I applaud it. However, if the director is going to take this approach, then it should be taken seriously and the make-up should be done right. Just take a look at Robert Downey, Jr. playing a Caucasian method actor, Kirk Lazarus in Tropic Thunder. In the film Lazarus appears stuck in his role as a black soldier, Sergeant Lincoln Osiris. Most importantly, his make-up is very convincing, even though the audience knows Downey's character is only playing the role of another race.
Moving on - the good points aside, I'm not sure why the film has received such high ratings from viewers. Nearly three hours of zipping back and forth at random between 6 different plots is a daunting task for the audience to keep pace with, and I agree with others that it would have fared much better as a mini-series on HBO or something. However, even this isn't the film's biggest sin. The biggest flaw of the film is that the writers try to force connections between the various plots and time-lines where, for the most part, none exists.
"I've read letters written by this so-and-so musician from 36 years ago" and bam! There's a connection Or "I've seen a film about the life of this so-and-so author from 132 years ago" and bam! There's a connection Give me a break! That's no more a connection than me one day listening to a little known composer like Hungary's Zoltan Kodaly (with no previous exposure or recollection of him), then developing an instant connection to the guy. It's shallow and a cheap way to move the plot along. With the way the movie zips back and forth between story lines, most people had trouble just figuring out what the heck was going on, let alone trying to recognize the connections between the different plots. Which brings me to my last disappointment: the movie makers ask the audience to investment nearly three hours of their time to this project, which requires the viewer to use vast amounts of mind power unlike any other film. The suspense builds, builds, and then builds some more but in the end Cloud Atlas didn't really deliver the "bang"; makes one feel cheap and dirty after giving this film so much time and cerebral commitment. That's not a good thing
There's also a preachy theme that runs throughout all of the 6 story lines (some more than others), so it wasn't a big surprise that the filmmakers would try to end things on a high moral point. But it misses the mark, and only furthers my opinion that they rushed each story in order to cram them all into one movie. Don't get me wrong. I don't mind preachiness in a film, so long as it's warranted. Here, the stories just don't resonate the deep meaning that the movie makers are trying to get you to buy into. Sorry.