Cloud Atlas (2012)

13 December 2020

This weekend I watched Cloud Atlas (2012). I didn't really care for it that much, for a couple reasons: (1) it was long, not-really epic film. I'm a huge fan of epics, but while this was an almost 3 hour film, it never really built any up any of the worlds it focused on. (2) They all felt like shorter stories. They could've completely separate - the threads connecting the stories were too loose and uninteresting to matter between tales. The Fountain (2006) comes to mind as a similar theme, but it at least connected timelines with both blantant cinematography as well as actors to connect things more blatantly. (3) The stories were all kinda bland. I felt it bounced around and interspliced characters so much that the stories didn't you a chance to care about the deaths, revolutions, or tribulations that were involved with their characters, any more than flipping through channels on a television.

The acting was good, as all the characters played something like 4-6ish assorted roles. I think the makeup and costume efforts stood out more successfully. It felt like a better technical achievement though, rather than a successful film. If you have the time and patience it may be worth a watch, of only to regards it's technical aspects. Personally I was very underwhelmed by it, and it felt like a waste of time. 4/10