The last project from the Wachowskis was the critically mauled Speed Racer in 2008, a film which concentrated so heavily on artistic production and graphics that the plot was largely ignored. Clearly, the directors are not out to make the same mistake here, Cloud Atlas seems to suffer from the complete reverse.
Drawing together several different narratives spanning six eras, the Wachowski’s, along with co-director Tom Tykwer, have attempted the impossible with a movie that has been deemed “unfilmable.” A long and gruelling film process was nearly abandoned due to lack of finance and was only able to survive due to German funding and personal support from the star of the operation, Tom Hanks.
Atlas advocates the notion that everything that has existed, exists in the present or will happen in the future is somehow connected. Almost along the lines of the butterfly effect, the main notion is that an action that takes place in history can have repercussions throughout the centuries.
The film throws out quite a few plot strings and manages to tie them all together, a clone in futuristic Korea, a slave on a ship in the 19th century, an escapee from an old folks are just some of the varied stories that eventually interact.
Hanks, the actor described by Spielberg as the most memorable forgettable face in Hollywood, is unsurprisingly the stand out performance with no less than seven characters in the film. However, Jim Sturgess, someone who has not really been given the material to display his full range as an actor to date, gives wonderfully moving interpretations as a man who changes his beliefs due to a turn of kindness and the catalyst for revolution in the future.
For a film with so many plot lines, characters and eras, Atlas actually makes a pretty good stab at making a sci-fi film with heart. Most who have read the book will have a better grasp of the story but for the rest of us, if you stick with the confusing plot past the first hour, the pay off will be immense. A huge production, Atlas will still manage to pull at the heart strings, mainly due to its fine cast.
