Cloud Atlas (2012) 8/10

Starring : Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Jim Broadbent, Hugo Weaving, Jim Sturgess, Doona Bae, Ben Whishaw, James D’Arcy, Xun Zhou, Keith David, David Gyasi, Susan Sarandon, Hugh Grant
Director : Lana Wachowski , Tom Tykwer & Andy Wachowski
Running Time : 173 mins

A diary written in 1849 inspires the writings of a composer in 1936; his letters in turn find their way into the hands of a reporter investigating a murder at a nuclear power plant in 1973. In the present day, an elderly publisher writes a screenplay about his experiences as he is tricked into hiding from gangsters in a nursing home; his screenplay in turn inspires a clone in the year 2144 to break her programming and reveal the truth about her kinds existence; she in turn inspires a religion in the distant future that inspires a cowardly man to stand up and fight for his people.

I really enjoyed this movie, in spite of its near three hour runtime and complicatedly intertwined storylines. Many people might just give up entirely as this moves back and forth through time, exploring seemingly unrelated events that eventually form a connection (although I couldn’t find the link from 1973 to the present day), and even though the movie is three hours long it couldn’t possibly have been any shorter as everything is essential, something which ensures that at no point is the viewer ever bored.

You’ll like this if you liked : Super 8