Review of Cloud Atlas (2012) by Leigh H — 26 Dec 2014

Originally I had heard of Cloud Atlas because of Tom Tykwer, one of my favourite directors since "Run Lola Run" and "Winter Sleepers" so my buzz was starting on a high years before the film was ever brought to fruition. Add to that The Wachowski siblings who wrote the screenplay and directed with Tykwer and there is the potential for a film that really is going to kick ass. Not ever readying the book myself written by David Mitchell but knowing plenty who has I often overheard conversations of who would play this character or how will they incorporate such an elaborate tale to film... Today I locked myself away for the 3 hr session, ready to explore those unanswered questions. I had my bottle of water and killer pythons prepared, and finally, what I had waited so long to see was going to happen.

In the first 3 mins of the films I was introduced to 6 different time lines and suddenly I was a little apprehensive, cut scene after cut scene of these people's lives jumped out at me continuously for the following 3 hrs. They say Cloud Atlas is a film that explores the actions and consequences of individual lives and how they can affect one another throughout the past, present and future over hundreds of years, how one deed 400yrs earlier where a woman is part of a rebellion is celebrated in a new age hundreds of years later as a God. Cloud Atlas is a mismatched eclectic vibrant story told in a very peculiar way, it takes on the "if a butterfly flaps it wings here, a hurricane will happen there" scenario in a monumentous way. I don't want to judge this film badly at all because as soon as it finished my only thought was I need to watch that again! I'm sure after multiple viewings Cloud Atlas will be the masterpiece it was designed to be.

Seeing the same actors over and over again in new make-up and prosthetic's in a new age made it very hard to focus on what was happening on the screen, instead I found myself trying to work out who each character was in an earlier time and what pivotal point where they turning in the future. In saying that though the make-up and prosthetics were done really well, Tom Hanks seems to appear more than anyone else though, and being as confused as I am I'm thinking that may have had something major to do with the plot.

The film boasts a huge cast from Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Hugo Weaving, Hugh Grant, Jim Broadbent, Susan Sarandon, Ben Whishaw ( who coincidentally is playing Freddie Mercury in a new biopic, can not wait for that one!) just to name a few. All do amazingly in their roles playing multiple personalities throughout the ages so I think the cast chosen was a clear winner. The score for the film is magical and at times takes you away to another place well worth hearing or downloading. One thing I do want to give a huge kudos to is the editors, I loved the way the film was cut together even though tough to follow, a scene where killer savages on horseback leave a screen to the right cut to a train enter for the left, there was endless amounts of clever editing done, and I found myself often watching out for them as the film progressed.

So as a final thought I will say this Cloud Atlas is a film that deserves your full attention, for many reasons and it is most definitely a film you will have to watch again and possibly even a third time, I believe every time you watch it the more you will get from it. So will Cloud Atlas change the world? Perhaps if enough people watch it and truly understand its meanings I honestly believe Cloud Atlas will go down in history as one of the greats.

5 out 5 BanShee Screams.