Review: Cloud Atlas (15)

For not to do so inevitably leaves the viewer floundering in a miasma of interminable incoherence.

A multitude of star names including Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Hugh Grant and Susan Sarandon inhabit this time and continent-jumping sci-fi/fantasy extravaganza, representing a gimmick as much as it does a viable storytelling exercise.

Adapted from David Mitchell’s novel by the Wachowskis and Tom Tykwer (who also shares the directorial credit) Cloud Atlas aspires to be a portmanteau of mighty proportions. Skipping from the 19th century past to the 23rd century future via the present, it incorporates Hanks as an 1840s physician and futuristic caveman, and Grant as a nuclear apologist. And that’s only some of it.

There is much more in their shared box of tricks. The Wachowskis’ preference for non-linear storytelling – the tales repeat one another, using common motifs (and actors) to drive home the continuing and tightly knotted narrative – over a near three-hour running time necessitates the need for a second viewing. Such is the intricacy of the form and the intriguing nature of it.

Devotees of the Wachowskis’ work on the Matrix trilogy will find similar thrills and spills in this new adventure. Those of a less enthusiastic nature will be less impressed with their reliance on trademark visuals to the detriment of story.

After the embarrassment that was the crash-and-burn experience of Speed Racer the Wachowskis needed a gargantuan hit. This is the result. However the inclusion of Hanks, Berry, Grant and Co may yet prove to be the film’s downfall; lesser-known names might have been preferable.

Still, while Hanks hams it up as a Victorian doctor and a two-fisted Irish bruiser, it is Hugh Grant who emerges as a master of disguise, particularly as a flesh-creeping, futuristic tattooed predator. A mighty movie, and a mighty conundrum, Cloud Atlas is designed to provoke debate. It will certainly do that, and more.