Cloud Atlas

     I am not going to lie.  I have little idea on what this movie was about.  I am not saying that there are not deeper, meaningful messages.  I am just saying that the average viewer will not get many or any of them after trying to decipher what the plot of the film is.

     It is a story of reincarnation, and how one person’s life affects another’s, with acts of kindness or crime having ripple effects throughout history.  Basically, there is a cast of eight actors who through a series of quite intense makeup and costume effects, are transformed into numerous different characters in many points in time (some of which remain unrecognizable, until revealed in the ending credits).  The movie bounces between these stories, and the audience needs to keep up on who is where and when, and what is happening. 

     The cast is quite impressive: Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Hugh Grant, and Susan Sarandon to name a few.  However, this does not distract from the confusing intertwined plotlines that bounce from one generation to another and back again.  For example, one story begins in London in the year 2012.  The opening scene is almost entirely unrelated to the rest of the story, so it is easy to forget the time period as they go back and forth.  The actors being in all of the storylines also did not help you keep them straight.

     “Cloud Atlas” is a lot to process and take in.  It is a movie you need to see more than once, because it is not possible to catch every nuance the first time around.  I’d give it a 5.5, because it was not dumbed down enough for me to comprehend it.  The effects and makeup were amazing though.  The movie is rated R, and quite lengthy at 172 minutes.