Cloud Atlas

CLOUD ATLAS (15)

D: Andy Wachowski, Lana Wachowski & Tom Tykwer

Warner Bros. (Grant Hill, Stefan Arndt, Andy Wachowski, Lana Wachowski & Tom Tykwer)

Germany/USA 🇩🇪 🇺🇸 2012

172 mins

Science Fiction

W: Andy Wachowski, Lana Wachowski & Tom Tykwer [based on the novel by David Mitchell]

DP: Frank Griebe & John Toll

Ed: Alexander Berner

Mus: Reinhold Heil, Johnny Klimek & Tom Tykwer

PD: Hugh Bateup & Uli Hanisch

Cos: Kym Barrett & Pierre-Yves Gayraud

Tom Hanks (Zachry / various other characters), Halle Berry (Luisa Ray / various), Jim Broadbent (Timothy Cavendish / various), Jim Sturgess (Adam Ewing / various), Doona Bae (Sonmi 451 / various), Ben Whishaw (Robert Frobisher / various), Hugo Weaving (various characters), Hugh Grant (various), Keith David (various), James D'Arcy (various), Xun Zhou (various), David Gyasi (various), Susan Sarandon (various)

Based on the award-winning novel by David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas is a thought-provoking and intricately profound masterpiece which I'd put amongst such sci-fi classics as 2001: A Space Odyssey.

This movie certainly isn't for wandering minds though & if you don't make it through the first ten minutes, you won't make it through the movie at all. It features six very different stories all set during different periods of time (late 1700's, early 1900's, 1970's, Present Day, The 22nd Century & A Post-Apocalyptic Age) and all these stories all seem to have a common link, even though you're questioning their right too.

The main cast members all play several characters, at least one in each story (more or less), all through the aid of some spectacular makeup transformation enabling them to embody the various portrayals, while the hauntingly beautiful music score works wonderfully throughout the entire anthology, tying it all together as the final puzzle pieces slot into place.

This movie will question beliefs on both religious hypotheses and the theory of both reincarnation and legacy. More importantly, it's a story about the power of inspiration, how it can shape and form the next generation and the importance of learning from historical events.

It's a long, complex movie, which might put a lot of people off with the non-linear narrative, but I would urge those people to stick with it, as it's a brilliantly structured allegorical fable on upsetting the natural order of things.

Quite possibly the best (and most underrated) film of 2012.

9/10