Review of Cloud Atlas

I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. It was the most entertaining film I've seen this year. The intertwining of multiple stories across time kept me rapt with attention until the very end. I am sad to say Cloud Atlas was a flop at the box office. Perhaps it will make up some of the losses in DVDs and rentals. Aside from it's poor performance at theaters, I thought it was a tour de force. The special effects, the editing, the performances, I agree with the New York Times critic that it was the best value for your entertainment dollar.

Yet I find flaw in the ending. If the makers of this film were reaching for a truly grand conclusion, like say in Stanley Kubrick's 2001, then I must say they dropped the ball. The conclusion was flat and totally domestic. It ended with Tom Hanks and Halle Barry as geriatrics with numerous grandchildren. I thought more could be done.

I also agree with the New York Times critic that the film takes on a "term paperish" quality. The scene of futuristic Seoul are all too similar to the matrix. I found the theme redundant, overplayed. Yet, I liked the similarity to Blade Runner of that story line. I like the questions and ideas that it raises; what to do with genetically modified people? What will the future of genetic modification be like? Similarly to Blade Runner they do not have a good end in store. I also liked the criticism of the "corprocratic" regime in Seoul. I think it draws attention to the lack of workers rights in Asia, perhaps this is why the film was pulled from Chinese screens. The Asian mode of productions which is reliant on abhorrent working conditions is overtly criticized in the film. I think it is one of the few films that addresses this topic and I commend the filmmakers for doing so. This ties in to the film's theme of revolution against the powers that be. From abolitionist in  19th century America, fabricants in Korea, or journalist against the Energy companies, the common theme is to speak truth to power, to expose injustice, and create a more just, equal world.

This is why I thought the movie was entertaining. I especially like the story where Tom Hanks played a goatherder and Halle Berry a "prescient." I thought the "devil" in Hanks' conscience was memorable. I kept repeating lines from him days after seeing the film. I think it is also a commentary on the philosophy of Social Darwinism. Throughout the film the saying "the weak are meat, the strong do eat" is repeated time and again. Perhaps the filmmakers mean that the struggle between the powerful and those without power has been a constant struggle over time and throughout the history of man. Only if we overcome our inner instinct to prey on the weak will we truly live in peace and advance along the evolutionary ladder.

This film could be interpreted in many different ways. I only offer some thoughts and ideas the it inspired in me.