There is just too much to love and too much to hate about this film. It has all the right pieces, but the approach in how it was edited is too overwhelming/jarring at times to truly enjoy all the wonderful stories.

Pros:
- Beautiful soundtrack; one of the year's best
- Outstanding makeup and visual effects
- Great set-production and location shoots
- Solid acting in certain stories/characters
- It actually manages it's nearly 3 hours well and never seems to drag
- A truly immersive IMAX experience

Cons:
- Haphazard editing which leads to confusion and often loss of desired emotion in certain parts
- The sixth story with a neanderthal Tom Hanks and cannibalistic Hugh Grant features a primitive form of dialogue that is nearly impossible to understand
- Over-the-top or lethargic acting in certain stories/characters (Hugo Weaving as a woman! WTF!?!?!?!)

It's taken a lot of research about the novel and reading critic reviews to realize its going to take another viewing to fully grasp whether or not the film's flaws aren't so bad after-all. I highly doubt I am going to go pay to see this again in theaters though... It's definitely a film everyone should experience and form your own perspective of it all. Its not a film like Argo where it is generally understood that it is a solid piece of film making and calling it a horrible film would not make much sense. Cloud Atlas can honestly be viewed as a poor or great attempt at film making and either opinion could be held as valid.

As of my first viewing, I give it a B-.

An awe-inspiring triumph of imagination, romance, and style each principal both in front of and behind the camera can and should be proud of, even though the initial critical response is divided. Whether it is, say, the tragic gay romance unfolding in 1930s Cambridge or the modern-day comic jaunt charting over-the-hill literary publisher Jim Broadbent's mad bid to escape a fascist nursing home or a conflicted goatherd's dangerous journey of discovery in a post-apocalyptic forest and vale, each storyline has a genre power unto itself, and the rambunctious, yet also precise editing draws our attention to the intricate design without ever lapsing into didactic, tedious moralization. The performances are fascinating, with several actors cast so against type as to blow one's mind (Hugh Grant, with blood drenched verve, portraying a cannibalistic tribesman in the Mad Max tradition or Hugo Weaving inhabiting a sadistic female nurse). Cloud Atlas will earn its place alongside 2001, Alien, The Matrix, and Children of Men among the best cinematic science-fiction visions of the last 50 years.

A

Viper criticizing Weaving's performance as the evil nurse and the devolved pidgin English in the post-apocalyptic story...I can't even. Two of the film's most memorable pleasures.

So you're telling me you could hear and understand the devolved dialogue? I'm glad someone could I guess.

And Hugo Woman Weaving was just downright terrifying and hilarious. It took me out of the movie because I couldn't believe what I was seeing!

The dialogue is confusing at first, as it should be, but I fell into the rhythm of it, plus the context clues. It's a fun, unique challenge for audiences.

A+

It is quite simple!

It is virtually impossible not to recognize the magnitude behind Cloud Atlas. The production in every detail: editing, photography, script, makeup, acting ... Finally, everything was thoroughly studied and loved.

Now, the idea, the concept of this monumental project is the problem. The idea transcends in many ways and places us on a map largely unexplored, which if is navigated by a novice sailor in a boat without sails and rudder, the trend is not getting anywhere.

So, I can say precisely that Cloud Atlas is a movie for people who have an open mind to accept a new concept of life, or to those who already believe in this possibility or simply views it as an exceptional science fiction.

At the end, or you embrace the concept or rejects, but being one of them, you will at least recognize the ambition and boldness behind the work.

For me, a masterpiece!

Hopefully this movie's total failure will convince the Wachowskis to take on Justice League, which I think they are uniquely well-suited for

I really liked it. I even teared up at the conclusion. In a year of some truly special films, no movie tries as much as Cloud Atlas, and the execution is almost always on the mark.

This has probably been said elsewhere but the fact that this movie works is just astounding. There are six narratives spanning three hours and there's never a dull moment. Things never spin out of control, even though they often feel like they're about to, and the unique stories are damn near powerful when woven together at surprising points.

Give these people the makeup Oscar. I don't want to hear who believed what (there was audible laughter at Asian Hugo Weaving's first appearance, as well as Buff Woman Nurse Hugo Weaving), but the statement made with each makeup decision is revelatory. Asian actors here play white/latino/other races... actually, everyone plays everything, and everyone is in every story. Cloud Atlas transcends all of this and uses its freaking casting as a means of highlighting the individuality theme of the film. Everyone is connected. The who's who game may feel like a gimmick but it's really anything but. No one performances stands out, but that's exactly what the film should have let happen. This is the best ensemble of the year.

I probably won't find a time to see it again before DVD but Cloud Atlas is something I feel compelled to revisit. It's such a heartwarmingly positive movie... with this, Matrix and Speed Racer, the Wachowskis are the enemies of cynicism. I love that.

BJs Grade:

A+/A

Feels like a near masterpiece, will have to watch it again to fully absorb the greatness on display. This movie is beautiful (this is the first time ive ever considerd a film so). I cant wait to see it again.

Color me truly surprised by the overwhelming love for this film within this community...

Like I said, I love the soundtrack. Bought it yesterday and can't stop listening to it!

It was interesting but I cannot say that I liked it. Hated the broken/primal English of Tom Hanks as a tribesman.

Rather than a theme of connectiveness, I thought the theme was one of a human yearning for freedom. The actors embodying different characters and positions on that theme.

It was much too long and I would have preferred to watch it linerally, as a sort of short story collection.

C.

That would have felt a lot longer.

I completely agree. That was the whole purpose too, there was more than enough proper English to decipher their conversation.

Also, I LOVED the film. LOVED it.

I agree. It was hard to very hard to understand at times but I still found the speech interesting.
I could have done without Hugo as a female since he doesn't make a very good one in the least.

My favorite storylines were the composers and the replicant. I thought both his and hers were the most emotional and impact full to me. Doona Bae was compelling to watch.

^I agree, I wasn't bored at all.

... but on the other hand what a peculiar movie. I thought it was a mess but I think I liked it? Wasn't really feeling Tom Hanks in any of the stories, kind of took me out of the movie every time he was onscreen but I guess it wasn't his fault.

I really enjoyed myself. For a 3 hour movie it flew by and was a really fun blast. But I'd say it's not as emotionally impactful as it seems to want to be and its attempt to make a grand impression on the viewer about humanity somewhat mix the mark. Ultimately what I took from Cloud Atlas is that its pure cinema and entertainment and storytelling, which is perfectly fine

Maybe I missed it, but was there any scene of someone reading Luisa Rey's book? That and the nuclear plot seemed like it should've been connected to the others somehow, but just weren't. Also they missed an obvious opportunity to connect the 70s and 12 - The unrecognizable old Hugh Grant in '12 playing Broadbent's brother, should've been the same guy as the 70s sleazeball Grant + 40 years, which would've explained why he was rich

It is a manuscript, and the author is the child neighbor who befriends and helps Luisa Rey. And I believe her story, with its focus on truth-to-power rebellion, partly inspires his escape.

Cloud Atlas is a timeless masterpiece.

That is all.


∞^∞ out of 5.

Reflecting on my experience of watching Cloud Atlas earlier this week, I have some observations I'd like to add...

First, it was such a rare pleasure to see a film for which I couldn't easily predict it's course nor ending, and yet have the whole thing come together as a logical and euphoric whole.

Secondly, I imagine that watching this film was similar to watching Clockwork Orange when it was first released. While Cloud Atlas is not as transgressive as Kubrick's masterpiece, it inspired the same sense of amazement in it's framebreaking boldness while retaining an emotional and excitingly engaging story. Even more impressive is the fact that Cloud Atlas accomplishes this after another 40 years of virtual stagnation in the language of cinema.

Third, it was altogether refreshing to see the future portrayed as convincingly foreign - - not just as a simple amplification of the present.

Finally, I am simply grateful to have had the opportunity to see another truly great movie in my lifetime.

I couldn't disagree more - - it is rare that filmmakers will dare to portray the real changes that language goes through over time, and yet I thought they succeeded at doing it both convincingly and comprehensibly.






Has no one seen The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert ?!?

I have, and it is a wonderful film, but this is obviously a much different film and role. One is a film obviously set in a world of camp and drag, while this character is a just a woman, a very evil one.

I enjoyed this, but I think it's a case of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts. Taken on their own, none of the stories are really that powerful or effective, but when put together, the film somehow works. I don't think it's a great film, or even a very good one, but I liked it, for whatever that's worth.

The best part was definitely trying to identify each actor in each storyline, with all their crazy prosthetics. In this day and age of CGI effects and over-digitalization, it says a lot that the most impressive visuals in this was the makeup.