Originally Superb

Rating: 10/10 (14 December 2012)

The concept of Cloud Atlas is a special one. When I read that this movie would be 6 stories mixed into one movie I thought about movies such as Pulp Fiction and Inception. Pulp Fiction being a movie where different stories collide and Inception being a movie where events occurring in one stage have an effect on other stages, like Cloud Atlas. I love Inception and Pulp Fiction for these concepts so I was keen to see what Cloud Atlas would bring.
6 story lines in one movie seemed very confusing and I was worried that the movie might be very hard to follow. These worries seemed unfit. I never got confused during this almost 3-hour running movie. Instead I was amazed at how well all the stories are displayed. There is no superior story or story that's let down by focusing too much on another which is remarkable and a admirable achievement by the directors.
I knew I had to see this movie when I saw the directors and the cast.I loved the Matrix Trilogy and V for Vendetta from the Wachowski siblings and Run Lola Run from Tom Tykwer so I was anxious to see this movie. My favorite actor is Tom Hanks so naturally I was happy to see a new movie with him. What I found admirable is his use of different accents in this movie. Next to strong acting his voice is very powerful and diverse in this movie. I have seen Jim Sturgess in the movie "21", a movie in which I found his acting quite strong. I was curious to see what he would bring this time. He didn't let me down, he put down a few very good role. I liked Ben Whishaw in Skyfall and was surprised to see him in another movie already. Although I liked him in Skyfall I wasn't sure he would be able to complete a task as big as this one, but he managed to stand his ground and put down multiple strong characters. I have always liked Hugo Weaving and I loved his roles in this movie. It was hilarious to see him as Nurse Noakes, fun to see him as Bill Smoke, which made me think about his role in The Matrix Trilogy and I thought he did a splendid job at performing Old Georgie. Jim Broadbents roles were very good too, I especially liked his portrayal of Timothy Cavendish. In the movies I have seen with Halle Berry and Keith David I thought they were okay, but not outstanding. They have proved to be worthy actors to me now with strong acting in this movie. Halle Berry for her portrayals of Luisa Rey and Meronym and Keith David for Joe Napier. I had not seen Donna Bae in any movie before but I think she did a very good job in this movie playing Sonmi-451.
The landscapes and sets are beautiful. When you see the voyage of Mr. Ewing the grand ship makes it very realistic and interesting and during the scenes in the Valley with Tom Hanks the forests and mountains are magnificent.
This movie looks very realistic. The ships from the future civilizations look very nice and the make-up work on certain characters is beautifully done, it was so good that only during the credits I realized by which actors some characters were played, which gave me a pleasant surprise. Everything used in this movie to make people look more fitting for their era sometimes makes them look very different and along with that more entertaining.
Overall I would say the concept is revolutionary and fascinating, the acting is fantastic (kudos to the casting team) and the quality is extremely high. Definitely a recommendation, it's something special that has never been seen before.