Everything is connected.
That is what the Wachowski’s have deemed in their latest film, “Cloud Atlas”.
“Cloud Atlas” is based off a 2004 novel written by David Mitchell. Going into this film, “Cloud Atlas” looked to be something original, as the concept of the film would surround a variety of stories with their own styles.
Did the Wachowski’s create another hit, or did “Cloud Atlas” get lost in time?
“Cloud Atlas” follows the tales of the past, present and future through 6 stories. We see how all of these events are meant to be connected. This is one the films biggest issues. It is not so much the idea of the plot, but how it is executed. Each story plays alongside each other oppose to being one story after the other. Though the idea is creative, in the sense of telling a story, it just leaves you a bit confused as well as being difficult to get a feel for the story.
“Cloud Atlas” features an enormous cast, featuring Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Jim Broadent, Hugo Weaving, Jim Sturgress, Ben Winshaw, Doona Bae and many more. Each actor plays a wide variety of parts. Fun as it may be to play multiple parts, in this case, in tends to be a problem. Like the story, the progression of characters over time is difficult to follow. What would have been better is to have cast members play the same character, but in different times and stories. The only person who was consistent throughout every story was Hugo Weaving, as he was the bad guy in the majority of each timeline.
Though the elements of story and characters are lost in translation, “Cloud Atlas” is a technically sound film. The film has a wide variety of sets that are used quite effectively and the make up to this film range from good to great. The idea and creativity to the film was spot on. It was just everything that was lacking.
“Cloud Atlas” has some great ideas, but it seems to fail in execution. The concept of multiple stories has been done before in film, and in this case, “Cloud Atlas” should not have stirred away from that structure. Despite that this film could been so much better, I say that it is still worth a watch only to see what the Wachowskis were attempting to accomplish.
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