Cloud Atlas (2012)

Simply A Masterpiece

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

This is one film most people will love or won't watch the whole thing. The stories concern reincarnation of the soul (?) although it goes far beyond that. The same half dozen or so people in one life are connected in similar ways in different lives. And a person who gets a scar or mark in the future, will have that mark show up in the past as a birthmark. Clearly this film goes way beyond any simplistic idea of reincarnation and makes it into a cult doctrine.There are 6 separate tales, although the film seems to concentrate on the two future stories. "Souls" are connected by generally having the same people play different parts, or by connecting them through aforesaid mark. The beginning of the film was confusing as it presents the ending of the various lives.The lives of these people are not simple. They are filled with trauma, killing, and intrigue. Scenes are connected by showing people doing similar things in different life times such as passing through a door, i.e. the so called "smart" and "clever" aspect of the movie.Rather than asks questions about truth and free will, the movie gives you David Mitchell's answers, which you may or may not agree with. For those who believe in some universal bond that links lives past and present to the seemingly inane point that things that will happen in the future will effect the past, you should enjoy this film for a full 5 stars. For me the film was too artsy, telling stories in a disjointed fashion that lacked depth and meaning to my life.I would wait for the DVD to see this film as there are things that are easily missed and will need multiple viewings to grasp.If they really wanted to make their case, they should have named Tom Hanks "Wilson" as an island dweller.Parental Guide: F-bomb, sex, nudity.

This movie was, for me, doomed by one thing and on thing only: the editing. I HATED HOW THIS MOVIE WAS EDITED. At first, you'd get introductions for each story. Those intros are merely glimpses of each stories. After the glimpses, we'd jump back and forth from the 1800s to the 1930s, 70s, present day, the "high-tech" future and the apocalyptic future. This choice of editing bothered me throughout the entire film. I was unable to identify and connect with the characters. Also, because of the editing, I didn't spot the connections between the stories. I only noticed them after reading the film's plot on Wikipedia.NOTE: After reading "Cloud Atlas'" Wikipedia article, I actually thought the movie had a strong plot (hence, I gave it half a star). If I reviewed this film and not read the Wikipedia article, I'd give the movie 0 stars if I could. P.S. I'm not really sure if the 3 "past sequences" take place in the 1800s, 1930s or 1970s. I can't remember. ALSO, I'm new here. I don't know if I could actually give 0 stars.

Got through half an hour of confused stories with actors in multiple parts and no emotional attachment to any of it. If it was all ultimately satisfactorily resolved I don't care! Each to his own taste.

Cloud Atlas has an extremely ambitious idea for a movie at its core, it tells different stories across three different time periods, Past, Present and Future, with the cast playing many characters.While the movie boasts some interesting ideas and concepts, some of those ideas were not fully realized, the script its kind of a mess.The movie fails in delivering a cohesive storyline, this stories would work better if they were short movies however in a full length movie it didn´t work quite that well.sometimes it was like i was watching different movies whenever the stories cut between them , but Cloud Atlas also has is positive aspects most of the cast is good and the cinematography is beautiful, there are some great shots in here, the production design and the costumes are also worth mention as well as the soundtrack, the Cloud Atlas Sextet is terrific. By the end Cloud Atlas ends up being a reasonable movie, although it has some good aspects they are not enough to pass its flaws.6.5/10