6 degrees of WTF?

Rating: 7/10 (1 June 2013)

Cloud Atlas is a film adaptation from a 2004 David Mitchell novel bearing the same name. This is a montage of six different stories, in six different timelines and how they're connected. The plot is complicated as there's constant shifting between these stories and their timelines. Such connections are maintained by: many trinkets; tattoos or birthmarks; music; references to a deity called Sonmi 451; love letters from an earlier timeline; etc. All are cleverly placed in what gamers call an "Easter Egg" rich environment. However, As far as I can tell, these clues are not intended to be easily discovered in a first viewing. Rather it seems more geared toward the dedicated fan that will see this multiple times as a cult classic. But I simply don't feel that same dedication although as a home viewer I did watch this movie twice. For me it's simply not the go to movie that I'll repeatedly watch like Bladerunner to discover new details or de-construct the SPX scenes. That's because Atlas doesn't give me the same payoff as my other favorites. However, as a viewer you get more out of it. My enjoyment was mostly in the visuals and the joy of seeing some my favorite actors as well as a couple of new faces perform. Since the film has no forced over the top dialogue or performances, the filmmakers provide a cringe free environment that allows me enough flexibility that I can enjoy the movie the way I want and for that I'm grateful. They gave me a choice of whether to torture myself with the details or simply sit back and relax. I chose the latter. There is however, a couple of glaring exceptions regarding visuals. The CGI is mostly excellent except during a chase scene which very much reminded me of the horribly modeled uni-motorcycle chase in the movie Lockout. The makeup effects are the biggest offender which is simultaneously impressive and disappointing. For the most part I could tell who was playing the various Characters. And for those I couldn't tell or miss-guessed, there's a visual summation in the credits to clear things up. And I was pleasantly surprised in a few instances. The makeup artists use their expertise to apply gender and race bending. Such as: Ben Whishaw who is 007's new Q branch director, as a very attractive older woman; Susan Sarandon as a bearded male college professor; Xun Zhou's interpretation of a male hotel bell hop; and Halle Berry as a black reporter, a white girl at a party, and a 1930's Jewish gal pal to an aging composer. She's beautiful in any shade. However, one conversion is only effective in one direction. That is, the Non-Asian to Asian conversions. These are: comical, awkward, and some can say even racist. This comes off as convincing to me as John Wayne playing Genghis Khan in The Conqueror and handled with the same delicacy as a Popeye cartoon's portrayal of Japanese during WWII. The prosthetics are embarrassingly bad and look uncomfortable for the actors to wear. Their foreheads looked as if they were encased in a totally inflexible plastic. On the other, the Asian to non-Asian transformations are entirely convincing and extremely attractive when applied to Xun Zhou who plays a blonde, long haired village girl and Doona Bae as a slightly freckle-faced red haired woman. To summarize, Cloud Atlas in spite of a few flaws is an enjoyable movie. It's just not destined as one of my favorites in Sci-Fi. And I will see the next project from these movie makers. They're the same people who gave us the Matrix movies which I thoroughly enjoyed. They're currently working on Jupiter Ascending which will also have Doona Bae who I'm very impressed with.
Special features: this is also a rich tapestry of detail as the filmmakers effectively explain all the reasoning, scheduling, and methods used in this project. Each actor participates thoroughly and enthusiastically in interviews to give us "their take" on the film. They effectively convey a true belief in the project other than just drawing another paycheck.