Review of Cloud Atlas (2012) by Brett H — 07 Mar 2016

Cloud Atlas is an ambitious project that spans centuries and features themes of fate and consequence, whose narrative reach exceeds its grasp and becomes far too muddled for its own good. The Wachowskis have yet to helm a worthy follow-up to their ground-breaking, The Matrix, and this is no exception with some inventive ideas, but far too much plodding and a lack of cohesion that frustrates.

The cast is excellent with the likes of Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Jim Sturgess, and Hugo Weaving playing a challenging assortment of various characters ranging from race and even gender, but the make-up is rarely convincing and it becomes more of a hide-and-seek game to find the actors in each segment.

The story is quite plodding and in no way needed to be three hours long, but there are sprinkles of brilliance such as the segment with Jim Broadbent in a nursing home and a futuristic take on Korea which used the Wachowski's style to great effect.

There's not much to say about the film except that I tried my very best to stay invested, but the constant hopping through time and laughable experiment of re-using the same actors in so many roles never really landed for me.

It was a valiant effort, but I would never watch it again.