Kept my attention, was interesting, yet fell short of epic [*** of four]

Rating: 7/10 (4 December 2012)

The concept of Cloud Atlas is most fascinating, to view the Hindu New Age/ Eastern religion and philosophical notions play out over a period of about 500 years. The movie's philosophical messages remains consistent to the very end. There is a portion of the movie at the very end that is a fulfillment to a theme present throughout the movie...it's all I can say about it, the movie ends on a great note.
The make-up/ special effects are like no other...Halle Berry playing a Victorian era white woman using hair color and colored contact lenses is amazing. Asians playing Caucasians and vice versa...men playing women...Hugh Grant as a post-apocalyptic war chief who solely grunts....truly amazing. However, some portions of the movie caused this movie to fall just short of epic to me and ventured into being ridiculous.....for instance, that a Mystery Movie Theatre style movie about a nursing home break out that took place app. 300 years earlier inspires a revolution that inspires a system of organized religion hundreds of years later on seemed ridiculous to me. Also, Tom Hanks speaking some form of pigeon/ Caribbeanesque English was hysterical and that's just the "true-true." . The movie is well connected, a major and essential feat for this kind of movie....no other movie spans 500 years so easily in one continuous thread and going back and forth as well.
Overall, Cloud Atlas is enjoyable, it's entertaining, and keeps your attention the entire almost 3hr running time, but some inherent plot flaws in the continuous story from the present day forward as well as some poorly done acts and scenes cause this movie to fall short of the epic it could have been. Overall, it is a movie worth checking out. Like I said, the movie ends very well in a way that subtly fulfills a main theme of the movie.