amazing movie,i need to see it again!
Forget the critics,go see it! cloud atlas is one of the best movies of the year!
and you never will see a movie like this anymore.

That's it ,the best film I ever seen.Perfect implementing from the awesome book.Tom Tykwer and the Wachowskis conjure a unforgettable cinema-adventure. Wonderful.

This is a profoundly 'good' film. Not only in it's production, it's plot and the quality of the directing, acting, music and visual effects, though all are impeccable.

It is also a genuinely touching film, making the world a slightly better place just by having been made.

We only get gems like this a few times in a lifetime, I would easily count this among the best movies I have ever seen.

I was so excited to see this film and i ended up being pretty disappointed. I think it was a good idea but executed entirely wrong. I will give a nod to the actors, it was not their performance that ruined it for me but the storyline was just plain confusing. It kept jumping from era to era and with the same actors playing mainly different roles I had trouble remembering what story I was in. I would suggest seeing it but prepare to be fully confused for the 20 minutes and then slightly confused for the rest. I think it takes a certain kind of person to like this movie. It just wasn't my cup of tea.… Expand

If you didn't like this movie then you weren't intelligent enough to get it. And if you were obsessed with believing that this film is racist in any way then you REALLY didn't comprehend it. That's all I have to say on the matter. Wonderful piece of art.

I have walked out on 3 movies in 46 years. 1. Eyes wide shut. If youve seen it you understand whether you want to admit it or not.
2. Earnest Goes to Camp ( Drive in theater. I was 18 She was done with her business and I was done with mine. We left the show)
3. This miserable piece of crap. Cloud Atlas. WTF? Only movie I've ever asked for my my money back.

Possibly one the greatest movies I've seen. The Wachowski's have done it again. I created an account just for the sole reason of writing a review on this film. It inspired me so much. This is what visionary cinema is all about. Yes, its 3 hours long. Yes, it's complex. Yes, there where moments where I couldn't quite work out what was happening, however, I accepted this challenge and the rewards were immense. If you are awoken, you will see the undercurrent to this movie. That's the people giving it 10 scores. Those who give this anything less than 5 should perhaps restrict themselves to movies such as the Expendables or the Transformers franchise. Something that lasts 1hr15mins to keep the attention and with a plot line you could follow as a 5 year old. This is NOT that film. I've never watched the same movie twice at a cinema.. this will be the first. It's a master piece and will be a cult classic. And the soundtrack is glorious!… Expand

Cinematically beautiful with a great cast but definitely played out like a bunch of trailers all ready and willing to make the next great film. The music in the film tried too hard and was over exaggerated half the time as well. This movie also could've told its story in less time, it drew out scenes which became confusing at times.

Incredibly incredible and amazingly amazing. Some say that the six stories are not connected, I would say you are not paying attention. The stories are so separated and united at the same time, all is about the theme of the film that "our lives are not our own, we are bounded to others. Past and present, by each crime and every kindness, rebirth our future." Those are the lines that connect all the stories so tightly. It's about Karma and causality, that we still have to be responsible for what we did in a way or another, sooner or later.
There is a Chinese old saying, "The sea admits hundreds of rivers for its capacity to hold." and Cloud Atlas is also a movie that is capable to hold thousands of years and different kinds of culture and emotions, you can feel excited, sad, happy, funny, desperate cross over the whole movie. Moreover, fighting for what they wanted is also another subject. they fight for their friends, even he is just a slave, for their love, maybe your gay lover or your cloned girlfriend, no matter what 's their intention, sacrificing and fighting for our love are always so beautiful and emotionally engaging. All those little pieces synthesize such a incredibly and amazing film.… Expand

Impressions and expressions do matter. I did travel in past lives using new method techniques and this motion picture conveys something like that. I really admire the impact this movie caused in me. I would say it is the truetrue continuation of the matrix series.
Impressions and expressions do matter.

This movie was so amazing . I love the screenplay and visual effects. They did a good job with adapting the story into a great movie. The directing for the movie is superb. The story is a grat blend of genres. The movie might be a little to arty for but for the ones that enjoy movie that tell the story from the style of directing and visual effects , you will love the movie. I live all the characters to the movie, this is my pick for movie of 2012. It is a very risky movie to shoot and it should have more buzz than it has now. The score to the movie was .outstanding .… Expand

What you might feel after watching thiz movie? You may be confused, you may be disappointed or if you watch closely enough, you may find a hidden philosophy inside. Thiz movie has six stories with six different time periods, from little island in South Pacific to the post-apocalyptic Hawaiian Islands, from the primitive year 1849 to far in the future 2321. The stories come from any direction and finally meet at one point. The story is meant to be connected to one another, however, don’t be surprised if you eventually find that the connection is very minor. In point of fact, you may miss the connection if you’re not careful. “Cloud Atlas” is the latest project from Tom Tykwer and The Wachowskis, starring Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Hugo Weaving, Jim Sturgess, Jim Broadbent, Ben Winshaw, James D’Arcy, Susan Sarandon, Hugh Grant, Doona Bae and Xun Zhou. All Actors have more than one role during different time periods. As a matter of fact, some Actors are so buried underneath their makeup that we could hardly recognize them. To make things even worse, some of them are seemingly drawn into comical performances such as Hugo Weaving, James D’Arcy, Susan Sarandon and Hugh Grant. The better performances come from Tom Hanks, Halle Berry and Ben Winshaw. And the scene stealer is definitely Doona Bae who depicts a genetically-engineered clone named Sonmi-451. Doona Bae delivers a complex and inspiring character. On the directorial side, Tom Tykwer carries out 1936’s, 1973’s and 2012’s segment. On the other side, Andi and Lana (used to be Larry) Wachowski handle 1849’s, 2144’s and 2321’s segment. Personally, I prefer Wachowskis’ direction. They can keep up the pace of their stories and prevent it from being boring. It reminds us of how good The Wachowskis really are when depicting futuristic tales, just like what they did in “The Matrix” (1999). On the other hand, even though I love the previous Tom Tykwer’s works such as “Run Lola Run” (1998), but thiz time, he seems to have put anything one-dimensional. In other words, Tom Tykwer’s direction is boring. If it’s not because of the intriguing futuristic tale of Sonmi-451 which is directed by The Wachowskis, thiz movie will undoubtedly become an unnecessary B-Class movie. In the end, thiz is something bigger than you think. It’s all about a belief in the universality of mankind. Basically, there is no difference between countries, races and even genders, where white can become black, black can become white and white can become Asian. We are all one, we are all the same, learning and strive for a better condition. Visit My Blog on JONNY'S MOVEE http://jonnyfendi.blogspot.com… Expand

too much for nothing... the trend of overfictioning philosophical meanings of life and mankind - inception and few others got it right, but not this one.

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This was certainly a rather....unique movie. I have neither read or heard of the book before, nor this I really know what the movie was going to be about. I was in for a mixed surprise. I really liked the concept of there being multiple stories within multiple time periods and the transitions between them are seamless. However (at least in the movie) these stories seem to be connected rather loosely. The only thing you get to see is how these individual stories are being transferred. (For example the first guy writes a diary which is read by someone in the next time period. That guy writes letters to his lover about his story and so on and so forth.) At first I though that if this is the only way these stories are connected, that's kind of lazy. But then came the credits in which you could see which actor played whom. This is probably the most revealing part of the movie, which now that i think about it is actually rather amusing. Still, i decided to do some research about the story to get some explanations about things that I might have missed. And so i found out that this movie was supposed to be about reincarnation throughout time periods. This makes sense after seeing the credits, but it's not really explained throughout a movie. As a movie, this kind of fails because important things that might have been explained better in the book are not really to be seen in this movie. However as an experience, this certainly was interesting. Do some research before you watch this movie. You'll certainly be enjoying it more afterwards.… Expand

One of the characters gives empathy a divine virtue status by saying that 'the ability of looking through someone else's eyes is the truth'. Best sentence to be in a movie ever,

It is the first movie I saw on this year and I am already convinced that will be the best, I don

A philosophical journey discussing how and why we live our lives and the ultimate repercussions of our actions on this planet. Sounds dull, you'd be dead wrong. Cloud Atlas tells many stories. In fact it tells 6 stories, each of them in different time periods, past, present and future. It follows revolutionaries in futuristic Neo Seoul, Composers in pre world war 2 Edinburgh and a group of elderly inhabitants of a dictatorial nursing home planning a jail break of sorts. Cloud Atlas isn't just adventurous and bold in its risk taking but its also informative. Cloud Atlas is an education in not just philosophy but film making and all the reasons it was created as a medium. It's the ultimate canvas where you can tell any story, no matter how ridiculous or far fetched. When I say Cloud Atlas is ridiculous it is not to ridicule it, in fact it is a compliment because it tells stories that shouldn't link and brings them together into a grand narrative that is at times naive and idealistic but never dull and always thrilling. Unlike the book the film is based on, the film cross cuts across its many tales instead of telling them in half chunks. It connects its stories through the many themes and ideas that makes the film so inspiring from love to adventure. The thing that binds these stories and makes this story jumping possible is the use of the actors in multiple stories. The actors play multiple roles through time and part of the superficial charm of the picture is spotting Tom Hanks or Hugh Grant in their many disguises or failing to spot Halle Berry as a Korean man. It's a film that is equal part fever dream and epic poem. The film unlike the book isn't so much about one life, one soul throughout the ages (although a strange birthmark seems to represent the idea of one soul throughout eternity) but about humanity, our collective consciousness through the ages instead. This film is a look into the idea of the butterfly effect, the idea that chaos theory can also be seen the other way, that one action can bring about good instead of evil for years to come. for example a self absorbed, opinionated composer (a terrific Ben Whishaw) creates a piece of music used for years to come thanks to the actions of not just him but people long into the future. However it is a film that must build to its epic conclusion and for that reason the first hour is quite dense (dense as in full, this film is never stupid) and takes some concentration. Once you understand the characters, the ideas and stories you are being presented its easy to get lost in this idealistic look at the good we can accomplish as a race and the absolute evil we can cause by just not trying or choosing yourself instead of others. Overall its a near perfect picture because of its attention to detail and its desire to show something we rarely see at the movies, a movie that celebrates stories and the hold they can have on us.… Expand

Watched it and I ended up with an head ache in the end because of spending 3 hours so much concentrated to see how would the plot turn up in the end, just to face some "nice" and "profound" truths about stuff we see in so many movies. Stuff like, "believe in yourself", "never give up", etc etc. No greeeeat revealing truth or something that tied all stories. Yes, the movie starts and ends with about 4 or 6 stories, all mixed up and you just learn whats up along the way we, the viewers, are totally left in the dark. 3 hours watching a movie to see what it leads in the end. It's frustrating. I rather see Dances with Wolves enjoying all the movie and not wanting to see the end because it was a cruel one, rather than waiting 3 hours to see if what I've watched was worth the wait and find out there's nothing interesting about it. The acting was nice, nothing wrong with it. Just the plot and how it was told and its end.… Expand

Ambitious, symbolic, beautiful and utterly breathtaking; with impressive visuals, a great story arch and brilliant acting and directing, Cloud Atlas is a successful attempt to turn an "un-filmable" novel into a well-adaptated masterpiece.

Most brilliant movie I have seen in years, possibly in my life. A true under appreciated master piece. It saddens me that this movie is not well known and the ratings are lowered by people without the intellectual capacity to understand it. No there is no guts, blood, explosions or non stop action which most people these days love. But there is an amazing story, perfect script, beautiful scenery, costumes, design and amazing actors and their portrayals of the vast number of characters. The movie raises and inspires your imagination in so many different levels. I am disgusted the Academy awards did not nominate this movie for best picture. Just goes to show you how politics play a huge role in everything these days. If you're like me a loved this movie, I think we should write to the Academy Awards committee which decides on nominations with our anger that this movie didn't get included.… Expand

Sprawling, and incredibly cast, Cloud Atlas is a film that surely has divided everyone who has seen it. Is it another self indulgent effort from the Watchowski Siblings, or a Masterpiece? Based on what is considered as an unfilmable novel, Cloud Atlas starts of as a project of such high risk, that the Watchowskis have difficulties finding the right investors. Why not? It is an Art Film with a Blockbuster budget. At its heart though, it is one of the more contemplative film that they have made since the Matrix, using every trick in the book a film that pushes the envelope so far, that it flops miserably. Only time will tell whether it joins the pantheon of 'visionary', 'much beyond its time' film making such as 'Blade Runner'. The question is will anyone give the Watchowskis', one of the most daring visionary film makers of their generation, another set of budgets after two flops in succession?… Expand

Truly epic in both scale and accomplishment, Cloud Atlas delivers a powerful, moving, thrilling experience that is sure to entertain on every level. May leave the audience scratching heads at the beginning, but it's worth sticking around the entire 172 minutes it takes to sweep you off your feet. This movie takes you from the life of a composer in 1936 to the life of a Fabricant in a Blade Runner-esque Korea in 2144. Truly amazing on every level, Cloud Atlas is brilliant enough to warrant several viewings.… Expand

This is by far the most inspiring, emotional, exhilarating, funny and action-packed 21st century philosophical work disguised as a really good movie! The brothers have done it again!

Everything about this movie screams 'cult classic'. Critics are decidedly mixed but most can find something good in there. It is too well acted by the cast to be dismissed as a resounding flop. I left the cinema with my head buzzing with questions and wonder and even now find myself returning to scenes in my head to play them through and see if I missed something. It is exceptionally rare for a film to do this.

It is essentially a parable about the impossibility of enslaving the soul, told through humour, love stories and exciting action. The ambition is tremendous and each tale would make a good film on its own, which perhaps is part of the reason it has been quite harshly criticised by some. I note on the whole however that both those who admire it and those who dislike it struggle to articulate why. My hunch is that while this polarises people, the people who like it will win out over time, and it'll still be talked about years from now for doing something so radically different.… Expand

I am in awe of this movie. How exactly did this not get on most critics' Top Ten lists? I loved it. Just about the quickest 3 hour movie I have ever watched. It was perfect. Every aspect of it was remarkable. So ambitious and brilliantly realized. Surely history will be kinder to this movie than the critics were. What a pleasant surprise.

If this film does one things it's show off what state-of-the-art make-up artistry can do: a select all-star cast plays a ton of different characters across six different timelines which are all interwoven and interconnected. The plot (and film) is meant to be epic -it does look it- but it doesn't feel like that to me. Somehow dispite all the exellent VFX, make-up, acting and poetry-like dialogue it fails to connect emotionally. It is however commendable that they at least try to engage the audience with a more complex story than say robots and screaming teenagers, but the utter failure of this movie at the boxoffice doesn't bode well for the more intellectual type of scifi entertainment -even if it doesn't fire on all cylinders like this one. Even if you might end up hating it I would recommend spending the 3 hours coz it might be a long time before we see something similar again :/… Expand

A three-hour investment to watch a film that has generated ridiculously bad reviews from most of the major critics is such a risky decision especially when the film has also failed at the box-office meaning that not even the audiences have liked the film. BUT! Cloud Atlas is much more than that. This is not a child's play to incorporate six different storylines in a single film especially when they all are so complex and their interrelation seems nearly impossible at times. Hats off to the Wachowski Brothers and Tom Tykwer for their tremendous effort by making a film whose novel is already complicated but the way they have executed the entire film is marvelous. I don't have words to describe how impressed I am with their work on this film, it is utterly excellent. Honestly, at first, the film seemed like a disappointment to me, I was trying so hard to figure out what does all of it mean which was preventing me from the main purpose i.e. enjoying the film. But gradually, throughout these three hours, I started understanding what is going on and it finally started making a LITTLE sense. Of course, everyone has their own interpretations about the film but the real and common one is that "everything is connected, your past may affect your present as well as your future." This can be thought of like that every individual's actions in a particular storyline affects the actions of other individuals in the different storylines. It can be seen like a phase in a human life, in which a person is bad at first, then he realizes that he is doing wrong and then in the end, he finally stands up for what is right. But this explanation doesn't fit all the individuals' stories like Hugo Weaving, he is evil in all of the storylines and maybe it's because his soul never realizes that it is doing wrong. Neither does it fit Tom Hanks' stories because he is a bad, greedy guy in the first storyline and then he becomes a good person and after that he becomes a bad person again and then finally, in the last stoyline, he becomes a good person, which doesn't make any sense. The more you try to figure out the plot of the film and interpret it in different ways, the more you start finding different explanations of how it could be possible. The film's brilliant (and far more complicated than I first thought) storyline is supported by phenomenal performances by the entire cast members. Every single one of them has played his/her roles wonderfully and that is also supported by the factor of beautiful make-up and styling to completely adapt them in their respective roles in different storylines. It completely blows you away, you can't even recognize that there are the same individuals in all of the storylines. Visual effects are great and so is the cinematography. Screenplay is really clever, because I have been reading that it varies from the novel and inverts the ending of all the storylines and it still has been incorporated properly and doesn't seem wrong. I might not read the novel because if I do, I'd be confused again and I don't want that. This is really not an all-audiences film, most of the people are not liking it because of the complications in the storylines and the confusing narrative but what it actually demands is your complete concentration because without it, you cannot understand what the real message and the purpose of this film really is, what exactly are the Wachowski Brothers trying to deliver to us, why did they choose to make this movie. All of the questions are answered if you watch the movie with complete attention and remember everything from the beginning until the end, it is really important. Cloud Atlas is easily one of the most complicated and daring films I have ever watched in my life. From the rough idea, you can guess that it would fail miserably but the Wachowski Brothers still made it for us because it is necessary to remind everyone what the real power of filmmaking is!… Expand

You'll probably ether love or hate this movie. It blew my mind, so many amazing things happened throughout it, but it is pretty hard to watch, and it took me till about 3/4 of the way through to realize what the movie was actually about, but that's the magic to it I guess.

An unexceptionable film. One of the best I have ever seen, in fact. The movie is an amalgamation of 6 lives and how their karma effects their reincarnation into difference spaces along the path of time. Some characters learn and grow, and others fall further down into the wellspring of bad karma, but the overall themes of the film, that love grants salvation, is something everyone can relate to. It may require at least two sittings to pick up all the details of each story line, but this film is worth every moment. The idea that karma does not distinguish between race, gender, or even space and time is repeated through several timelines, and while it make take you a moment to work out how they are all connected, when you go, the aha-moment will have you falling in love with this film. At times gruesome, at times poignant, at times amusing, but always entertaining and fulfilling.… Expand

Possibly the greatest but certainly the most ambitious film of the year. Watching it for the first time I knew i was in for a movie that would require and invite repeated viewings. Absolutely breathtaking. Every is storyline is spectacular and gets enough screen-time in the near-3-hour timespan. The only complaint, albeit a very minor one, is that the casting decisions are sometimes a little distracting.… Expand

Ambitious but ultimately flawed. Long stretches of near endings, six separate story lines to keep track of, and all interconnected to the freedom of human blah blah blah....The two hour mark I surrendered.

Many movies bore at times and seem predictable at times. Cloud Atlas has its story telling in a buzz and the storylines of each individual time should of been a little longer and more in-depth. But don't judge its quality by the complex plot, the movie blended in beautiful themes. Its mystery, romance, comical relief, dramatic, and actiony si-fi themes fit perfectly in one and I would probably never find a movie that did this again.… Expand

I went to see the movie with mixed expectations. I had read reviews beforehand that warned of a messy plotline with multiple stories. I was positively surprised on how untrue that was. The stories play well out in terms of pacing and characters. There are a lot of them in total, but each part (or you could say "act") has only a couple central characters, like you would expect from any typical story. The different stories are very easy to follow because they are so different, yet they are the same on many levels. I specially like how the film expects you to think. You can watch this movie just for the visuals, but to really appreciate it, you need to think what happened and because of what. Some reviews I've read say that the stories are not connected. I would say that if that is how you feel, you did not pay attention at all and were expecting the movie to give everything pre-chewed to you. Instead the movie expects to you to fill the missing bits, notice references between the stories and to imagine what has happened between the transitions from one story to another. There is even an exchange of lines in the movie which can pretty much be summed up as the characters saying to the audience that we won't tell you everything, you can imagine and fill the blanks yourselves.
The movie has a message and after you've processed the stories, it should be quite obvious. It might not be exactly the same message as I got, but still. Music and sound effects were good, not exceptional or bad, but satisfying and did their part well. The locations and visual effects were really nice and at times stunning, fitting for the events that transpired and interesting. Acting was good, the characters were played well and the actors fit their roles neatly. My only criticism is about the masking same actors played different roles and genders, and the masking department had not been up to the task at all times. Or maybe it is that I perceive female actors playing male characters and vice versa a bit hard to digest due to the different body/facial structures of genders.
I would recommend the movie if you want to see something that requires paying attention and ability to concentrate for nearly three hours, but in exchange gives food for your thought and imagination. Don't watch this if you just want to hang out with friends and chat at the same time.… Expand

Ambitious, featuring six stories all set in various time periods. Often times with a film like this, there is always that one storyline that is just not as good, or in the case of Cloud Atlas, 2 or 3 storylines that fail to compare to the others. That's really the main problem I had with this film, the performances, music, and visuals are all top notch, but not all the stories were that engaging, diluting the effectiveness of the major themes. I still really enjoyed the film. My favorite parts were set in Korea and the 1970s.… Expand

I not entirely sure how to sum up my feelings about this film in all honesty. I went in knowing it would be very in-cohesive so I assume that's the reason I didn't hate it, although I loved the idea anyway. It has you thinking that people are just reliving things that happened in past lives and the storylines of each 'segment' doesn't connect whatsoever to the next which is true. However, there's an absolutely miraculous moment at the end that makes the entire thing fall into place and I genuinely believe it's one of the most beautiful moments in the history of film. This moment makes the entire thing connect and it's so overwhelming and empowering that I couldn't help but sob a little.

I firmly believe that people who didn't like the film are the ignorant souls who want a straightforward film to laugh like an imbecile at or watch the pretty explosions. Clichéd as it is, If you open your mind just a fraction you'll be absolutely amazed at what's been done here.

And why should everything be so black and white? Ambiguity is half the fun of it.… Expand

Entertaining and engaging. What else is matters? The stories piece together (some better than others) in a way that is a little confusing at first but soon feels natural and fluid. Great job with the editing. I can't imagine many films that'd be harder to edit than Cloud Atlas.

It was fun seeing each actor take on so many roles, but even more fun when I realised my mind had started separating them, making them their own characters as they should be. This is a credit to the acting/direction and makeup of each character.

I wish more people would give it a chance. It's a miracle the film got financed and made at all, and for it to come out so well is a testament to the love for the project the Wachowskis and Tom Tykwer have, If only people would sit down and watch the film. Really watch it. Listen to every word. See every set, every costume, hear every atmos track. Just sit back and be drawn into this (read: these) worlds. There's no way you can't enjoy this film that literally offers something for everyone as it melds together so many genres.… Expand

This film will be unappreciated, mainly because of its complexity and length. But it is one of the best films I've seen this year. It has many themes and a great immersive story.

This is a movie that affect human soul like a great symphony, It is not easy to tell a story about human eternity, but in this movie the "holy music" that I assume is beating everyday inside everybody's soul was successfully translated into some sort of convincing, beautiful, visual phenomenon.

This movie is the kind of stuff that often splits people in two: those who enjoy life as it flows, no matter if good or bad, and those who always keep checklists at hand, hoping that assessing and measuring everything will encompass reality and maybe prevent them from harm. This duplicity in audience approach to the movie is embodied in the film itself, and to me that is a proof of its importance. Tons of stories about light vs. darkness (and about their being insolubly inter-weaved) have been told throughout the eras; this is another great opportunity to clinch the message, not to find some never-expressed-before meaning. The way it's conveyed makes it worth to experience Cloud atlas. His holiness The Matrix itself wasn't free from referencing: we cannot neglect culture, after all, we're all imbued in it. So turn off the judging critic inside your mind and just enjoy the ride in the depths of complexity, it's one of those you… Expand

The day after the election, I slept in late, watched Obama's acceptance speech, and saw Cloud Atlas, a film which perfectly examines the main themes of the election: love and charity and duty and patriotism. Connectedness. Oh, and greed, cruelty, and the 1%. It's the only action-scifi-romance I've seen where I checked the credits for Howard Dean and George Lakoff.

Remember Lakoff's Don't Think of an Elephant!, about the power of framing to influence thought and action? At its core, that's what the book Cloud Atlas is about. The film shows this in a visceral way that will move those who would never read Elephant.

If you haven't already seen Cloud Atlas, try to see it on the big screen. Take a few friends who like to talk about issues and meanings. If you are like me or Roger Ebert, you'll want to see it again right away and a third time soon. It's the perfect antidote to wallow-in-the-mire entertainment like the TV series Girls. But, you might say, some reviews have been bad. Depends on who you ask. Users love Cloud Atlas but the critics don't, just the opposite of Girls. Maybe that's because this is a fully adult film, one which encourages us to challenge authority and work together to achieve very long-term goals. And maybe because Cloud Atlas shows how depraved the opposite, selfish approach can become. I wish we'd been able to take every reluctant or undecided voter to see this film. But at least we can see it now, for nearly three hours of pure pleasure and a big recharge to the activist batteries.… Expand

that is a really great Film from director of matrix that i have expected , but that is unacceptable to take 55 number for this film , if i were a Critic i will take 100 to this film

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Cloud Atlas is a hot mess. There is about half a good movie here. The themes presented are relevant: love, dignity, freedom. Unfortunately they are sometimes presented in such a way as to seem trite or even cliched. There are also some strange and baffling elements that just don't work.

I'm also going to get this out of the way right now: I was not a fan of the use of yellowface and whiteface on non-Asian and non-Caucasian actors, but not for the politically correct reasons a lot of people were. I didn't feel that the characterizations were racist or offensive. My main problem was that with a few exceptions, it looked really unconvincing.

Of the six stories, I was most fond of the tale of Sonmi-451 (Neo Seoul, 2144). Her story was dark and tragic yet hopeful at the same time. The world she inhabits is a glitzy dystopia built upon the worst excesses of contemporary corporate culture. Of all the sequences, this one and the story of Robert Frobisher (Cambridge and Edinburgh, 1936) would have made enjoyable full-length films in their own right.

I liked the sequence set in the UK, 2012, starring Jim Broadbent as Timothy Cavendish in what was essentially a dark comedy vignette about an aging publisher and his gangster client (Tom Hanks). Even a throwaway joke about soylent green being people actually relates to a disturbing element in the Neo Seoul sequence.

The story set in the South Pacific in 1849 about a young lawyer who falls sick during a voyage and is under the care of a doctor who it emerges is poisoning him in order to steal his belongings but is saved by a runaway slave fell flat. Tom Hanks as Doctor Goose had a false nose and prosthetic buck teeth which made him look like a character from League of Gentlemen (the British comedy series, not the crappy adaptation of a good Alan Moore comic book). Predictably the lawyer, who is helping the slave by hiding him and then later gets him work as a sailor on the ship, become friends. When the lawyer returns home he declares to his slave-owning father-in-law that he and his wife will go east to aid with the abolition efforts. It should be powerful but it just feels cliched and somewhat cheesy.

I don't have too much to say about the sequence in which Halle Berry plays the main role. It was neither good nor bad and felt like an homage to movies of the era in which it was set, namely the early 1970s, featuring a tough, independent black journalist whistle-blower uncovering a conspiracy at a nuclear power plant run by an unscrupulous business man. Taken on its own, it could have made a rather average thriller with a few good moments of tension.

The sequence set on a post-apocalyptic Hawaii in the year 2321, just stank. It reminded me of Battlefield Earth, but with better production values and no use of dutch angles that I can remember. Tom Hanks plays a superstitious coward belonging to a tribe of people with vaguely Maori-like tattoos on their faces. He is plagued by hallucinations of Hugo Weaving as a character that can best be described as a goblin with a top hat, who I think is supposed to represent his fear and religious hang-ups. Tom Hanks' people live in constant fear of cannibals on horseback with fearsome facepaint. Halle Berry plays a character from some nice,shiny utopia where they have pretty, shiny vehicles and fusion power. She's on the island looking for some ancient secret which she tells Tom Hanks is "The true true." or some such childish baby-talk. It's all very confusing and stupid and ends with Tom Hanks and Halle Berry living happily ever after on some distant planet with two dozen grandchildren sitting around a campfire listening to Grampy Tom Hanks tell stories.

I haven't read the book, so I can't really compare it the source material. The principal cast appears throughout the movie in multiple roles because they're reincarnations of characters from earlier time periods, but it's not presented in chronological order. Some of it is intriguing. Some of it is hard to care about. Other parts are just plain weird and not always in a good or compelling way.… Expand

shockingly bad, confusing and seriously disappointing. i fell asleep several times I was that bored. I expected great things but after seeing Django Unchained last week (a fantastic movie that has you gripped throughout) I felt it necessary to comment on this. I would have walked out but my fiance wanted to see it through. Glad I got free tickets or I would have been even more disappointed.

This movie is not that complicated as some think and it's not trying to be, it's just puzzling, so you will need to pay attention and see it in one shot, otherwise you'll think just like many others, that it's a bad movie, but it's not and it's not your usual kind of movie, aside the story, like make-up, visual effects, soundtrack, etc, are well done.

I don't want to give the Wachowskis or Tykwer all the credit, or even too much, because the real visionary here is David Mitchell, and this is a much more faithful adaptation of his book than anyone could have hoped for, I think, and whatever issues one could have with the spiritually far-reaching narratives on display stem from his nested story structure. And there have been issues galore. I don't think I've ever had so much fun witnessing a film's critical divide. This is a film critics secretly want to be soaring over people's heads, something the critic can understand and explain to the masses. Alas for them, it's a film Tykwer and the Wachowskis wanted everyone to enjoy. And so I did...very much so. This is indeed sprawling and ambitious but the biggest surprise for me, and maybe disappointment for others, was its solid delivery of an old fashioned experience a celebration of heroism and romanticism delivered with a dark sense of humor and a go for broke joy in delivering the goods without apology. Mitchell may have written the book, and he will openly state that he wrote it simply to see if it could be done, but the film seems to have been made by its three creators with the same sense of daring and flirtation with folly, one-upping the already mammoth scope with an equally daft notion of having all the actors play outside their genders or ethnicities. The whole business with the actors and the makeup and the noses may not work all the time, and it may not work at all for certain audiences, but it will always be inherent to me of the three filmmakers' attempt to do something totally insane, and too few in the business of making movies are even trying to push any envelope anymore. I came to love the use of the cast and the makeup when I realized about halfway through first viewing that the filmmakers had done so as a way of adding some heart into what Mitchell had created. There are some very bold and moving things being said in this film about love, responsibility and individuality that wouldn't have been so poignant without the utilization of the cast reappearing in each time period as a radically different self. This is not a folly. The fact that this not only works but has become one of the most addictively watchable movies in my memory has also made it one of my all-time favorites. And there are many reasons it works for me, one of them being that the film was made, I believe, with a strong yet sly sense of self-referential humor and the other being that the schematic structure of Mitchell's book has been replaced by a freestyle, musical approach. I don't think since 'Short Cuts' has there been such a major film of such length which has truly relished such a cascade of rhyming images and sensations simply for the enjoyment of it, like listening to a great album. One can be daunted by the many worlds on display here and try too hard to get on top of it all but the real fun is letting this movie just play in front of you, doing its free association dance through time. This is like the iconic shot in '2001' of the pirouetting bone which jump-cuts into a ship rotating around the earth, played out like a symphony. This either works for you, or not at all. For me, it's one of the great movie experiences of my life.… Expand

I could watch this film a dozen times, something I can't say for but a handful of movies. I like movies to clock in at 100 minutes, and I thought that the Dark Knight Rises was forty minutes long, but this film deserves the time, and it deserves a few rewatches. Its more of a work of art that you can't experience in a single visit to the museum you have to live with it, experience it multiplie times. In keeping with the themes of the movie, I'd say it requires six visits. There are layers of complexity, and they are worth unweaving. The Wachowskis ask sincere questions about who were are and why we are, and they make science fiction films that explore our metaphysical possibilities.… Expand

Cloud Atlas it's the most amazing film that i seen ever. I don't know how you can't love this film. The plot is so exciting that you can not tear your eyes from the screen for three hours.

I think this movie says truth. No enforcement, No comfirmation. Just shown that how does a phenomenon function. And it is not bad that action of this movie, Awsome impersonation, multiple acting is great.

Epic in scale and in ambition. Cloud Atlas just falls short of brilliance. Ultimately it turns out to be too confusing for it's own good. It is however, never short of riveting. So, even if you are unsure what is happening, you continue to watch, hoping that the next time jump will solve a piece of the puzzle.

Life played out like beautiful jigsaw puzzle, each piece a fascinating piece of color and wonder, but in the end quite putting the big picture together. Time well spent and entertaining to behold. I both aspects much like life it self, I guess

This movie is one of the most polarizing movies right now. It's basically like Animatrix with 6 mini stories that's related to each other. The environments for each timeline is appropriate, the standouts being the 5th and 6th story which takes place in the future with awesome futuristic technology that I soooo want to have. One problem though, this movie is a complete mess. It regularly jumps all over the place from the past to the future then to the past again that I can't think of any other thing to say but "what the hell does this movie want to be?" Every timeline has different themes to them. First and second story is drama movie, 3rd is suspense thriller, 4th is a comedy, the 5th and 6th story in the future is all action. The movie jumps back and forth between all the stories that it's just a complete mess. I tries to link them together by having the themes when it jumps similar, eg: a battle in the 6th jumps to a battle in the 3rd, but in all honesty it's completely unnecessary. The theme of the story is the first story leading to the next will influence the actions of each story's main characters, and that's it. It's better to just play it in order from the first to the last story like Animatrix or some other short movie compilations so it's easy to follow and fun to enjoy. Maybe one day someone on Youtube will do that, I'm looking forward to seeing these stories in order so it'll be more enjoyable to follow.… Expand