Powerful

Rating: 8/10 (5 November 2012)

I'm not sure what I expected from Cloud Atlas except for its lengthy running time but whatever they were they were excelled. Cloud Atlas is a truly moving and unique experience. The film follows several different story lines over a very long time period that are somehow connected and affect each other.Like many films of a similar nature some story lines work more than others depending on how they engage you and how they are executed. The most powerful and emotionally resonant for me were the Sonmi 451 storyline which just blew me away and the one concerning the closeted gay composer. All had great moments and were impressive for different reasons in their own rights. As for the performances Tom Hanks is well enough but his multiple roles and extreme differences are a lot to pull off and he does well enough with them. More impressive is Halle Berry who has less to do in the film but reminds you why she won that academy award by giving a solid variety of different performances. My favorite performance of the movie was from Doona Bae an extremely talented actress most powerful as Sonmi 451 , I also really liked the sexy and talented Jim Sturgess in that storyline as well as well as the one in which he plays an ill writer. Ben Whishaw, James D'Arcy, Jim Broadbent and Hugh Grant, yes Hugh Grant are rather good as well. The only performance I wasn't huge on was that of Hugo Weaving. He's been way better in other films but never very good in my opinion. But at this point he's more of a staple of The Wachowskis. And speaking of them and the films direction the Wachowskis started off really solidly with the noirish thriller Bound and followed that up with the first accomplished Matrix film but ever since than it's been a mixed bag. This is without a doubt the grandest and most ambitious film they've ever done and thats saying something and it's also their most solid feature since the first Matrix but it's far from flawless the bits directed by them are mostly good but their are a few questionable choices here and there which make you feel the films length. The same goes for Tom Twyker who had an amazing debut with Run Lola Run but hasn't followed it up with much his bits are good here as well and he does fare a bit better in some aspects but the film does need a bit of fine tuning. The spfx are amazing as expected especially considering the films smallish budget for something of this magnitude and I have to give extra credit to the films different age and character make ups they are truly incredible. All in all it's a really solid experience some moments are better than others but the films underlying message is inspired and unforgettable. it's without a doubt the bravest, most ambitious film I've seen this year and one of the best. 4/5