To say that Cloud Atlas is confusing is probably one of the biggest understatements of the year. Assuming you can get through the first 45 minutes (every single second of which with a puzzled expression permanently fixed to your face) I can promise that you'll be hooked until the end. A superbly written story (at least in book form, which most people had deemed unfilmable) combines with a perpetual succession of big name stars (including the lesser-spotted Hugh Grant bad guy) and an absolutely relentless pace to keep your attention right the way through. Don't get me wrong, it is requiring of a significant chunk of your time (and 100% of your attention) to make it all the way through and remain mentally unscathed, but it seems to me to be a wholly worthwhile investment. I also have no doubt that David Mitchell's book is probably far cleverer in telling the story than can be committed to screen. Indeed, it does rather play out as six short films in a single epic (with a running time to match), but despite the furious editing and bewildering story jumping (each of which include some outstanding performances from both the cast and production teams alike), each one of the plot lines immerses you so completely, that the final pay-off is simply six times as good.
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| Ben Whishaw desperately tries to remember if this was one of the exploding pens he stole from the Skyfall set |
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| Director | Lana Wachowski, Tom Tykwer, Andy Wachowski |
| Cast | Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Jim Broadbent, Hugo Weaving, Jim Sturgess, Doona Bae, Ben Whishaw, James D'Arcy, Susan Sarandon, Hugh Grant |
| Length | 172 mins |
| Post Credits Scene | A nice mid-credits pay-off, but nothing post |
| TFC Mash-Up | Unmistakably unmashable. Imagine short films based on bits of Tron, Brazil, Django Unchained, Planet of the Apes and Sin City, all loosely jumbled together in a sort of Crash meets Sucker Punch kind of way... |
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