– Review by D. Noble
So, last week I got a chance to see an advance screening of the Watchowski’s new movie “Cloud Atlas” and participate in a Q&A with them afterwards..I’m gonna let that sink in first. I love the Watchowski’s, they’ve directed a lot of my favorite movies; “The Matrix” 1 & 2 (Not sure what the hell happened to 3). “V for Vendetta” and “Speed Racer”, yes, I said “Speed Racer” (it wasn’t THAT bad) lol . So from the beginning I was excited, but to be honest I really didn’t know what to expect from there latest brainchild.
To be fair I saw a few of the trailers and it definitely looked interesting but I wasn’t quite sure what the story was about. I actually went on Wikipedia to do some research because I figured if they were involved it must be something about the story that was unique because they rarely do “normal” movies.
The movie is based on a book written by David Mitchell and it consist of 6 separate stories that stretch over a log span of time. Starting somewhere in the 1800’s and ending in a distopian future. The stories all however intersect and play off each other in a very Karmic, reincarnation of the soul type of way. Your not necessarily watching the same characters over and over again but almost different incarnations of the characters and how decisions they’ve made affect the next version or world they find themselves. It’s very in depth and thought provoking in a “Butterfly Effect” sort of way. Oh, didn’t I mention the book is NOT in sequence, so it jumps from story to story in no particular order. *Mind Blown* lol
So the Watchowski’s had the tough task of taking these 6 different stories in a 500 page novel and squeezing it into a 2 hour and 45 minute coherent screenplay, which I have to say they succeeded at brilliantly. There are so many levels to this movie that you have to see it more than once to catch all of the nods to popular culture and to the connections between the source material. I mean what starts as a confusing mesh of differing content slowly begins to expand and connect the dots for the observant viewer. This is definitely a thinking man’s movie but also adds enough laughter and action to keep regular movie goers entertained.
The performances are great, but what else do you expect from a cast that includes Hugh Grant, Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Jim Broadbent and more. Also the fact that the actors play 4 to 5 different versions of themselves is awesome. Some of the makeup is so good you don’t even realize actors are in the scene.. Awesome
This a must see movie for any serious buff. While not a perfect movie, it takes a certain type of brilliance to pull something like this off and I hope that people can respect that when the movie hits theaters on 10/26. We all know how brilliant classics like “Hugo” do in today’s box office
MY REVIEW: I gave this movie a 9 outta 10. Definitely check it out!!
For more Ecclecticity, check out D. Noble’s Blog “Welcome To Ecclectica”, click the Link below:
http://ecclectica.tumblr.com/
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