A movie spanning a thousand years and you will feel every minute.

Rating: 3/10 (20 April 2013)

It's surely wrong to review a film you have'nt sat all the way through but after two hours of Cloud Atlas and faced with the prospect of another hour i decided to cut my losses and leave.The feeling of liberation as i left was more thrilling than anything i'd seen on the screen.
Having read some reviews i was hoping to see something of an inspired mess,flashes of brilliance in an ambitious,undisciplined sprawl,in fact i was just bored.It's a very difficult film to engage with,perhaps the episodic way the stories are told does'nt help as the individual stories are not that remarkable and more time would need to be spent coaxing out interesting levels. Another hindrance is the distraction of Hollywood stars plastered in unconvincing make up giving the viewer a barrier too difficult to overcome.It also takes itself terribly seriously,i think a lighter touch would have been more persuasive.Certainly there's some striking imagery (pretty much all included in the trailer) but aside from that we are left with a ponderous,dull story.
I applaud the films ambition but unfortunately thats about all i can recommend.