Spoilers are going to need a map.

This film has been on my watchlist for a while. Long films are quite an investment to review. I’ve always consider a tighter runtime better, so the extended length was the first hurdle to get across. The second is whether you’re going to vibe with this film or would rather stay away. For this reason, you can consider reading a little bit more on what it aims to do to make a decision or just go in blind and take the risk.

(Credit: Warner Bros)

Cloud Atlas (2012) is written and directed by Lana and Lilly Wachowski and Tom Tykwer. It is based on the 2004 novel of the same name by David Mitchell. We have six different storylines on different eras intermingled throughout the film, with a few of them sharing characters or actors re-casted into different roles.

We follow an American lawyer, Adam Ewing (Jim Sturgess), and a runaway Moriori slave, Autua (David Giasi), on a tall ship sailing the Pacific Islands in 1849. A musical composer, Robert Frobisher (Ben Whishaw) has a forbidden relationship with Rufus Sixsmith (James D’Arcy) and tries to finish his masterpiece in Cambridge, Edinburgh 1936. A young female reporter, Luisa Rey (Halle Berri) discovers a conspiracy involving a nuclear plant owned by Lloyd Hooks (Hugh Grant) in San Francisco of 1973. A publisher, Timothy Cavendish (Jim Broadbent), tries to get the help of his brother to escape some hoodlums and ends up committed to an abusive nursing home. A fabricant named Sonmi-451 (Donna Bae) becomes the hesitant face of a class rebellion in Neo Seoul, 2144. A tribesman called Zachry (Tom Hanks) must help Meronym (Halle Berri), a member of an advanced people called Prescients, go into the forbidden zone.

At the core, the film’s strength is in its storytelling which is good, since that and the character engagement are the critical parts to keep you watching. The cinematography and set design are amazing, so you never doubt the era you’re in except for the CGI-heavy futuristic sets. The connections are sometimes more obvious in some instances more than others. I found the film works best without trying to find every hidden connection and just enjoying when discovering one accidentally instead of hunting them all down.

It does work with the right frame of mind. The storytelling feels very much like this film could have worked as a miniseries, so watching this online works better. I can’t say whether I’d been able to sit through this in a theater. The theme of every story is anti-establishment, as we find characters having to rise or flee against systematically approved injustice. The quality of the resolution of these stories vary, with some having a very heavy-handed conclusion, while others fizzle out and some having a tragic end. I did feel a little tone deafness in a few endings while the one wrapping up the movie would’ve worked more left open ended.

Recommended with reservations. I think the storytelling is both the strength and the central theme of the plot, but the conclusions for each storyline are a bit of a mixed bag. Some endings get a bit preachy and blunt. It biggest drawback remains its extensive runtime but it does justify it with engaging characters. The way it works best is when you see it in a streaming service where you can stop and restart. If you’re willing it can be worth a watch, without trying to find every hidden connection. It’s better when you stumble upon one.

That will do for now.