Movie · 2012 · Drama, Science Fiction · 2h 52m · R · English
Curator score: 4.2/10 (576.2K ratings)
Everything is connected
Overview
A set of six nested stories spanning time between the 19th century and a distant post-apocalyptic future. Cloud Atlas explores how the actions and consequences of individual lives impact one another throughout the past, the present and the future. Action, mystery and romance weave through the story as one soul is shaped from a killer into a hero and a single act of kindness ripples across centuries to inspire a revolution in the distant future. Based on the award winning novel by David Mitchell. Directed by Tom Tykwer and the Wachowskis.
Ratings
Curator score: 4.2/10
IMDb: 7.3/10
Letterboxd: 3.50/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 66%
Metacritic: 55
TMDB: 6.9/10
Director
Lana Wachowski, Lilly Wachowski, Tom Tykwer
Production
Cloud Atlas Productions, Anarchos Productions, X Filme Creative Pool, A Company, Dreams of Dragon Pictures, Media Asia Film Production
Cast
Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Jim Broadbent, Hugo Weaving, Jim Sturgess, Bae Doona, Ben Whishaw, James D'Arcy, Zhou Xun, Keith David, Susan Sarandon, Hugh Grant, David Gyasi, Robert Fyfe, Martin Wuttke, Robin Morrissey, Brody Nicholas Lee, Ian van Temperley, Amanda Walker, Ralph Riach
Curator Review
Verdict
An overstuffed, messy, and genuinely moving sci-fi epic that swings hard for transcendence. Its interlocking timelines, reincarnation motif, and big-hearted belief in human connection make it easier to admire at first and easier to love later.
Best for
Viewers who like ambitious, high-concept films that risk failure
Fans of emotional sci-fi with philosophical and spiritual ideas
People who enjoy nonlinear, multi-era storytelling
Audiences open to camp, melodrama, and visual excess
Skip if
You want a tight, streamlined narrative
You dislike earnestness or grand moral statements
You’re sensitive to uneven accents, makeup, or tonal whiplash
You prefer science fiction grounded in realism
Overview
Cloud Atlas is the kind of film that announces its own impossibility and then keeps going anyway. It braids six stories across centuries into one argument about empathy, consequence, and the way small acts echo forward through time. The result is sprawling, uneven, and often ridiculous, but it is also unusually sincere for a movie this large and this strange.
Worth noting
The Wachowskis and Tom Tykwer lean into scale, reincarnation, and genre-hopping with almost reckless confidence. Some segments land better than others, and the performances can be broad to the point of distraction, but the film’s emotional throughline is strong enough to hold the whole thing together. Even its rough edges feel tied to the ambition of the project.
Bottom line
What lingers is not polish but conviction. Cloud Atlas believes that lives are connected across time, that cruelty can be answered by kindness, and that stories themselves can carry moral force. It is a flawed epic, but one with enough heart and imagination to justify the journey.
Top Letterboxd reviews
demi adejuyigbe · 2009 likes
I remember the extended 7 minute trailer for this movie dropping in 2012 and being very excited to watch this movie, only to let the negative reviews (and daunting 3 hr. runtime) sorta push me away from it. Then, years later I found it for cheap on Blu-Ray and bought it as a commitment to one day watch it. I’ve been hyping it up for myself for years, and I finally watched it. And you know what? It fucking rips.… more I remember the extended 7 minute trailer for this movie dropping in 2012 and being very excited to watch this movie, only to let the negative reviews (and daunting 3 hr. runtime) sorta push me away from it. Then, years later I found it for cheap on Blu-Ray and bought it as a commitment to one day watch it. I’ve been hyping it up for myself for years, and I finally watched it. And you know what? It fucking rips.… more
Simon Ramshaw (5★) · 1363 likes
"What is an ocean, but a multitude of drops?" - Adam Ewing
I think the only sensible way to review this film is by each of it's inter-twining stories. In chronological order, of course:
PHASE ONETime and setting: South Pacific Ocean, 1849Genre: Sea-faring adventure/period dramaProtagonist: Adam Ewing (Jim Sturgess)Well, I suppose a good place to start is the worst place to start, because things can only get better. Although the events of this section are meant… more
David Sims (5★) · 1340 likes
what 👏🏼 is 👏🏼 any 👏🏼 ocean 👏🏼 but 👏🏼 a 👏🏼 multitude 👏🏼 of 👏🏼 drops
ale (4★) · 685 likes
Cloud Atlas walked so that Everything Everywhere All at Once could run
Josh Lewis (4★) · 610 likes
“I believe there is another world waiting for us. A better world, and I’ll be waiting for you there.”
2001 · Fantasy, Drama, Mystery · 1h 54m · R · Curator 8.7/10 (3.2M ratings) · Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, fuboTV, Amazon Prime Video with Ads
For viewers who like metaphysical storytelling where time, fate, and emotional unease collide.