Cloud Atlas (2012)
Average Rating: 6.6/10
Reviews Counted: 250
Fresh: 165 | Rotten: 85
Its sprawling, ambitious blend of thought-provoking narrative and eye-catching visuals will prove too unwieldy for some, but the sheer size and scope of Cloud Atlas are all but impossible to ignore.
Average Rating: 6.2/10
Critic Reviews: 50
Fresh: 20 | Rotten: 30
Its sprawling, ambitious blend of thought-provoking narrative and eye-catching visuals will prove too unwieldy for some, but the sheer size and scope of Cloud Atlas are all but impossible to ignore.
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Average Rating: 3.7/5
User Ratings: 177,107
Movie Info
Cloud Atlas explores how the actions and consequences of individual lives impact one another throughout the past, the present and the future. Action, mystery and romance weave dramatically through the story as one soul is shaped from a killer into a hero and a single act of kindness ripples across centuries to inspire a revolution in the distant future. Each member of the ensemble appears in multiple roles as the stories move through time. -- (C) Warner Bros.
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Cast
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Tom Hanks
Cavendish Look-a-Lik... -
Halle Berry
Indian Party Guest, ... -
Jim Broadbent
Captain Molyneux, Ko... -
Hugo Weaving
Bill Smoke, Boardman... -
Jim Sturgess
Adam Ewing, Adam/Zac... -
Bae Doo Na
Megan's Mom, Mexican... -
Ben Whishaw
Cabin Boy, Georgette... -
Keith David
An-Kor Apis, Joe Nap... -
Susan Sarandon
Abbess, Madame Horro... -
Hugh Grant
Alberto Grimaldi, Ca... -
David Gyasi
Autua, Duophysite, L... -
James D'Arcy
Archivist, Nurse Jam... -
Xun Zhou
Rose, Talbot/Hotel M... -
Brody Nicholas Lee
Javier Gomez, Jonas,... -
Robert Fyfe
Mr. Meeks, Old Salty... -
Alex Wuttke
Guard, Leary the Hea... -
Robin Morrissey
Young Cavendish -
Ian Van Temperley
Enforcer -
Amanda Walker
Veronica -
Ralph Riach
Ernie -
Andrew Havill
Mr. Hotchkiss -
Tanja De Wendt
Mrs. Hotchkiss -
Raeven Lee Hanan
Catkin, Little Girl ... -
Götz Otto
Groundsman Withers -
Nial Fulton
Haskell Moore's Dinn... -
Louis Dempsey
Haskell Moore's Dinn... -
Martin Docherty
Eddie Hoggins, Haske... -
Alistair Petrie
Felix Finch, Haskell... -
Zhu Zhu
12th Star Clone, Meg... -
Sylvestra Le Touzel
Aide in Slaughtershi... -
Shaun Lawton
Secretary -
Ruby Kastner
Young Girl -
Emma Werz
Ursula's Granddaught... -
Mya-Leica Naylor
Miro -
Korbyn Hanan
Adam Grandson -
Anna Holmes
Scientist/Executive -
Moritz Berg
Porter -
Gigi Lee
Zachry Relative -
Genevien Lee
Zachry Relative -
Victor Esteban Sole
Mr. Roderick -
Marie Ronnenbeck
Ursula's Daughter -
Thomas Kugel
Ursula's Father -
Laura Vietzen
Young Ursula -
Heike Hanold-Lynch
Nurse Judd Look-a-Li... -
Dulcie Smart
Herbalist, Ursula's ... -
Cody Lee
Zachry Relative -
Katy Karrenbauer
Axwoman -
Gary McCormack
Crane Operator -
Marco Albrecht
Scan Enforcer -
David Mitchell
Union Spy -
Jojo Schoning
Papa Song Punk -
Kristoffer Fuss
Lead Enforcer -
Doona Bae
Sonmi-451
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Cloud Atlas Trailer & Photos
All Critics (250) | Top Critics (50) | Fresh (165) | Rotten (85) | DVD (3)
Whatever your age, even if life is an ocean made up of many drops, you may resolve that life is too short for this errant nonsense.
Top CriticA film which piles on the action, the romance, the philosophical inquiry and the silly accents until the viewer is left punch-drunk and reeling. Seriously, what's not to love?
They key to successfully absorbing the movie may be in not trying to overthink what's on screen.
An eminently peculiar mismatch of substance and form, like a Hallmark card written by David Foster Wallace.
The result is maddening, exasperating, occasionally exhilarating -- and mostly boring.
For all the spectacular settings and visionary designs, Cloud Atlas left me feeling disconnected
This is a film that will be enjoyed most by people who haven't seen many other films.
Personally, I felt ennobled by the inspiring ideas, and captivated by the impressive performances both in front of and behind the camera.
A movie that transcends all structure for a meaning much deeper than can ever be written in clarity.
A scattershot film that courageously tries to incorporate as much of the novel as possible, only to find it doesn't translate well from the page.
Like a fitted coat worn by someone it wasn't tailored for, parts of Cloud Atlas bulge out, overstretched, begging for more material, while other sections hang laughably loose.
It would be an excellent advertisement for you to read the book, if you hadn't just ruined it by watching the movie.
With Hollywood in its current conservative mode, recycling tired franchises left and right, it's tempting to applaud the sheer out-there-ness of Cloud Atlas.
It's an exercise in monotony...
Cloud Atlas is a mesmerizing piece of art that experimentally pushes the medium of film to daring new heights.
It's kind of fascinating to watch a vaunted Oscar quartet embarrass itself under the delusion that it's communicating something IMPORTANT!
A true gem.
Despite the fact that ot sometimes looks like $102 million celebrity dress up party where Tom Hanks got a really good bulk deal on latex noses Cloud Atlas sometimes strikes moments of sheer beauty.
A little too unfocused at times, there's something deeply involving about this time-spanning romantic thesis.
An epic, genre-hopping, unique adventure that effectively shoe-horns six films into one...Cloud Atlas achieves that rarest of all things for a film this big: it is engaging and consistently entertaining as well as providing brain food.
...few films have ever been this weird, this epic and this disjointed.
It's not often we're given something that looks so dazzling, features such an impressive, eclectic cast, and which will leave your noggin buzzing with ideas.
For a long, sprawling, high-concept, philosophical, stylistic mash-up of a film, Cloud Atlas is impressive and thought-provoking without ever being pretentious.
A think piece linking past, present and future that's surprisingly haunting and moving in its delivery.
Cloud Atlas is like nothing I've ever seen before. It's a bold cinematic treasure from a brave collaborative filmmaking collective.
Audience Reviews for Cloud Atlas
Super Reviewer
What we get are six interconnected stories set during different time periods, and done in the style of different genres (romance, sci-fi, costume drama, post-apocalyptic adventure, etc). The ensemble cast play multiple roles, often as characters of different ages, races, and genders, and some play the same type of part in each story, though with others there are bits of shared traits, and a few of the actors have their own developing arcs with the different characters they play, namely with Tom Hanks's many roles.
There are many threads of continuity between the stories, but, in broad strokes, the main themes, ideas, and lessons are tolerance, being a good and decent person, and how the actions and consequences of individual lives impact one another throughout the past, present, and future.
I really have to give everyone involved credit for just getting this thing made. It's weighty, complex, pretentious, and a bit of a mess, but it's also daringly bold, creative, and thought provoking. Oh, and there's some originality as well, even though, like everything else. there's shreds of familiarity all over the place, too.
This is a long film, and it was a bit of a problem for me. My attention was kept for a lot of it, but once I figured out the basics of what this was about (the big lesson) about an hour into it, the rest just seemed to cruise on by. Granted, I still had the fun job of trying to pick out who was playing what character in each part, and how it all tied together, but still. The Fountain did a lot of what this does, but more compact, and in less time. Yet, I'm giving this one a better rating because I think this one earns it by really going all in. And, I also found this one a little easier to a'get" than Aronofsky's film.
From a technical perspective, this film is quite an achievement. The visuals, cinematography, costumes, set design, and art direction are all top notch. The make-up and effects work are to be commended as well, though some of it is a bit iffy and laughable at times. But, you can't really fault them too much for wanting to be ambitious.
The cast is quite good, and we get to see a lot of heavy lifting from the likes of Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Jim Broadbent, Ben Whishaw, Jim Sturgess, Hugo Weaving, and Hugh Grant among others. Most of the performances are really good and varied, though some of them aren't varied enough, and aren't giving as good as they could have been (namely Susan Sarandon).
I could probably go on about this one for a while, but I won't. Admittedly, I'm still trying to process this, and am not quite sure how I really feel, but for now, I do think this is a good film, and it is worth seeing. Just keep an open mind, and be willing to pay attention.
Super Reviewer
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- Sonmi-451: If I had remained invisible, the truth would stay hidden.
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- Haskell Moore: There is a natural order to this world, and those who try to upend it do not fare well.
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- Sonmi-451: Truth is singular. Its "versions" are mistruths.
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- Robert Frobisher: A true suicide is a paced, disciplined certainty. People pontificate, "suicide is selfish," while career churchman like Pater call it a coward's act typically because they lack the necessary suffering to sympathize. Couldn't be further from the truth; suicide takes tremendous courage.
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- Old Georgie: The weak are meat and the strong do eat!
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- Adam Ewing: What is any ocean but a multitude of drops?
Discussion Forum
| Topic | Last Post | Replies |
|---|---|---|
| Cloud Atlas | 8 days ago | 108 |
| BOMB. | 45 days ago | 15 |
| Hanks and Berry | 3 months ago | 12 |
| Peter Travers Review | 6 months ago | 7 |
| Sci-fi at some of its finest | 45 days ago | 5 |
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May 15, 2013:
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Foreign Titles
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