Cloud Atlas - Incredibly Profound and Beautiful

Cloud Atlas was a cinematic masterpiece with an all-star cast, remarkable score, and one of the most original storylines I’ve ever seen.  Based on the Sci-Fi novel of the same name, Cloud Atlas was met with both extremely positive and extremely negative reviews, but I would say that the film was exquisite.  Jumping through time, the film follows 6 unique story lines from 1849 to 2321 which can be confusing at first.  The characters each play their own role in each time period which then directly affects whoever they are in the future.  With Tom Hanks, Hugo Weaving, Halle Berry, and Jim Sturgess (just to name a few) the movie has some of the best acting I’ve seen in a long time.  To try and summarize the plot would be pointless as the subtle details are what make the movie so great to watch.  Trying to pick up on who the characters are in each time period is fun but distracting at times as the plot moves at lightning speed.  As the movie progresses it’s easier to start to notice the connections between the different characters and time periods as the development of a love story across multiple centuries unfolds.  Also a story of redemption, the film focuses heavily on choices surrounding life, love and death and how those choices directly affect us as human beings.  The theme of reincarnation and the idea of life as a continuous cycle is at the heart of this film which makes the viewer question their own actions making for a profound and meaningful ending, something I find is extremely rare in films; let alone science fiction films.  Space and time are so much vaster than the average human can even begin to comprehend and Cloud Atlas touches on this in a film that is a cinematic work of art.  Incredible costumes, effects, and locations round out the long list of success’s that make Cloud Atlas one of my favorite movies of all time and a film that is so beautifully complex that it must be viewed more than once.