I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

This movie was, for me, doomed by one thing and on thing only: the editing. I HATED HOW THIS MOVIE WAS EDITED. At first, you'd get introductions for each story. Those intros are merely glimpses of each stories. After the glimpses, we'd jump back and forth from the 1800s to the 1930s, 70s, present day, the "high-tech" future and the apocalyptic future. This choice of editing bothered me throughout the entire film. I was unable to identify and connect with the characters. Also, because of the editing, I didn't spot the connections between the stories. I only noticed them after reading the film's plot on Wikipedia.NOTE: After reading "Cloud Atlas'" Wikipedia article, I actually thought the movie had a strong plot (hence, I gave it half a star). If I reviewed this film and not read the Wikipedia article, I'd give the movie 0 stars if I could. P.S. I'm not really sure if the 3 "past sequences" take place in the 1800s, 1930s or 1970s. I can't remember. ALSO, I'm new here. I don't know if I could actually give 0 stars.

The movie is about different time lines that are connected in a way, by consequences, it show us how little things can change a lot and how some acts ,no matter how small, can inspire big things like a revolution or a rebellion. The movie indeed is good and it can be a bit confusing at the beginning, but that is not a bad thing but a good thing because it makes we think about the things that are happening at the film and think in some explanations to these events, but this felling just show up in some moments like the beginning and the mid-ending of the movie. The bad things is that the movie doesn't give us much detail about the background of each time line , it doesn't explain why somethings are happening , and why and how things happened to the world and to the humanity at the future

This film is nearly three hours long. It bounces back and forth between half a dozen different milieus in as many different plots. And, those are back and forth between past and future generations. The milieu are Hawaii, London, San Francisco, Seoul, the high seas, a place on another plant in our galaxy, and various other places around the globe at different times. If it sounds confusing, well, that's because it is. I doubt that anyone who sat in a theater and saw this film when it came out, immediately afterwards could write down the different scenarios, varying periods of time for each, and who the main characters were of each plot. My guess is that few people could even list half of the plots, characters and time frames. As for messages, this is a very hodgepodge of mores and morals covering family, creativity, sexuality, freedom, oppression, love, a type of pagan faith, and more. Numerous social issues are included in the movie. Among them are murder and mayhem, corruption and killing, stealing and betrayal, lying and cheating, fantasy and sci-fi, oppression and revolution, slavery and racism, tyranny and torture, fame and fortune, pride and power, music and creativity, superstition and mythology.Seven actors appear as six different characters in the various scenarios and time periods. They include Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Hugh Grant and Jim Broadbent. Another dozen actors have three to five roles. Several more have two roles. Perhaps the filmmakers were trying to set a record for a film with multiple roles. They probably succeeded in that.My guess is that the high rating many people give this film is solely for its entertainment in the plethora of scenes, settings, period costumes, and makeup. That and some imaginative camera work and lots of special effects. If those things are one's idea of entertainment, then "Cloud Atlas" is a winner. But it wasn't a smash hit at the box office. I prefer good stories that I can relate to someone after seeing a movie, with specifics. No one without a photographic memory would be able to do so after watching this film. The various film genres in this movie are mind numbing. There's no comedy, sports or Western, but it has about everything else. Drama, mystery, murder, action, war, sci-fi, horror, fantasy, romance - all are here in "Cloud Atlas." Outside of the music, which received widespread praise, reviews of the film varied. It received a standing ovation for its premier at the Toronto Film Festival, but it wasn't otherwise widely lauded. The movie finally topped its $128.5-million budget with worldwide release that netted a total box office of $130.5 million. The movie was based on a 2004 novel by English author David Mitchell. Mitchell said that he doubted a movie could be made of his book. Well, a movie was made. But my guess is that readers of the book would have far more recall and memory about the stories. After all, who could expect an audience to remember much of a 500-page book, with multiple plots, time frames and characters, crammed into a movie of just under three hours?

I just finished watching it on BR .. on a rather small screen . and i can only imagine how it should have looked on the big screen.This movie is amazing .. and i find it hard to put it into words. The story is hard to get at first (that is when you watch it without having read or listened to any synopsis or summary before) .. it is a series of impressions that are very hard to connect. But slowly they all come together .. with rather little exposition.Acting is spot on .. as in .. superb (well there is quite a lot of star power in the cast) but also the story / writing is amazing. There is a tranquility, a thoughfulness about the movie that is positively intoxicating.It is one of those movies that .. once they end .. make you think .. not so much about the story or the movie itself, but about yourself, your time, "you in history". It has quickly ascended to one of my favourite .. and i will certainly watch it again.. and maybe there will be a chance to watch it on the big screen some time. 10/10 .. absolutely recommended!