Cloud Atlas (7/10)

Cloud Atlas, based off the novel of the same name by David Mitchell, is an epic of a story spanning over a millennium of time, capturing the lives of dozens of characters all played by only a handful of actors.  Three directors, Tom Tykwer, Andy Wachowski, and Lana Wachowski, (formally Larry Wachowski before a sex change) took on the task of telling this daring story.  Were they able to make such a great story work on the big screen?

Plot:  
This movie is simply too big to try and lay out the plot.  But in a nutshell, Cloud Atlas is a deep exploration of how all of our lives are interconnected and impacted by our actions...actions that transcend lifetimes and shape souls.

My Thoughts:

There are 13 main actors playing 68, (yes, sixty-eight,) different characters. Let that wash over you for a second.  But its only impressive if it works, right? Well it does work!  It really did!  I never once lost which character was which, even though multiple actors played as many as 7 different characters.

There was, however, one big problem with the character-switching.  Switching characters between ethnicities, which many main actors do in Cloud Atlas, did not work.  Jim Sturgess and Hugo Weaving, for example, looked downright silly as Asians, and by the same token, Doona Bae was horribly unconvincing as a Caucasian.  I understand the obvious message the directors were trying to convey here, but for cinematic purposes it really hindered the "seriousness" of the film.

With six stories spanning over six time-periods, I was really surprised that I never once got lost with any of the plots.  That fact alone I found to be a massive success.  All of the stories are engaging, which I credit the author David Mitchell for.  The acting was great across the board, with the standouts being Tom Hanks and Halle Berry, (of course), Jim Sturgess, and Jim Broadbent.  I'll also give a shout out to Ben Whishaw for doing an absolutely superb job of narrating his well-written monologues.  And I think this goes without saying: Cloud Atlas will be one of, if not the most beautiful, awe-inspiring cinematic experience of the year.  You only need to watch the trailer to figure that out.

It's going to take at least 4 or 5 viewings to catch all the underlying, interweaving themes running through each story.  It was masterfully done.  However, there are many times when Cloud Atlas begins to feel like Lana Wachowski's film.  She preaches way too much, and its obvious.  She(he), has a massive chip on her shoulder about the transgender thing, (go watch some interviews, it's very annoying) and she vents it all out in Cloud Atlas.  It has a very negative impact on the film as a whole, and I couldn't stop wishing she(he) was not a part of the filming process.

There are two other negatives in Cloud Atlas that bother me.  One was the musical score.  Honestly, it was just bad, (besides the "theme" song heard at the beginning of the trailer).  Too dramatic where it didn't need to be and very misleading at times, the score intervened with the film much more then progressed it.  

The other is uselessly explicit sex scenes.  One in particular was absolutely over the top, and this new Hollywood trend of "slipping in" women's bare breasts into the frame was just everywhere.  Also note that there is a very, very much in love gay couple that, while are not sexually explicit on screen, spend a good deal amount of time talking about how much they adamantly love each other, and it's shown in a very positive light.  All of this once again, feels very much driven by Lana Wachowski.

Never in cinema has anyone ever seen anything like Cloud Atlas.  Whether you hate it or love it, that's one thing I think all of us can agree on.  This story is just, new.  It is a completely original, mind-bending story.  For this reason alone, you should definitely see this film.  All the same, I can't help feeling like Cloud Atlas was held back by Lana's insistence to preach her grudges with society in uncalled-for, sometimes overly-explicit ways.

Rating:  7/10

Lawless (7/10)

Lawless is an adaption of the book "The Wettest Country in the World" which tells the story of the infamous Bondurant brothers; bootleggers during the prohibition era.  The writer of the original novel, Matt Bondurant, (grandchild of Jack Bondurant, the youngest of the three), is also on the script-writing team alongside the musician Nick Cave.  All of this is helmed by director John Hillcoat, who directed The Road; one of my favorite films of 2009.  This is indeed a odd combination of leaders, but are they able to pull it off?

Plot:
Set during the prohibition era, the Bondurant brothers are known as the toughest and best bootleggers in Franklin County, Virginia.  Their authority is challenged when crooked special deputy Charles Rakes wants in on their profits.  As fellow bootleggers begin to fold to Rakes' demands and pressure begins to mount, Jack Bondurant (Shia LaBeouf) must prove he can lead his brother's operation while still trying to win the heart of the local pastor's daughter Bertha (Mia Wasikowska).

My Thoughts:
Check out this cast: Shia LaBeouf, Tom Hardy, Jason Clarke, Guy Pearce, Gary Oldman, Jessica Chastain, and Mia Wasikowska.  ....Yeah, my jaw was on the floor too.  This is the best lineup of actors since Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy of last year.  But with such a huge cast, does each character get to flourish or do some characters get overwhelmed?

Unfortunately, it is the latter.  Some performances were fantastic and made you care about their character's outcome, such as Tom Hardy, (Forest Bondurant) Jessica Chastain, (Maggie) and especially Guy Pearce as the oh-so-hateable villain Charles Rakes.  However, the leads Shia LaBeouf, (Jack Bondurant) and Mia Wasikowska (Bertha) fall incredibly flat and predictable.  I found myself bored with the leads and focusing in on the side characters of the story.  And just a side-note, Gary Oldman's character gets a whole 2 minutes of screen time, which was, albeit sufficient for his role, very disappointing considering his immense acting talent.

The plot line and script are predictable, as are most things coming out of hollywood these days.  But in the case of Lawless, that did not make it any less fun.  It's a genuinely addicting, interesting story set in one of the most unique, adventurous time periods of American history.  Worth mentioning is that there are no plot holes that I could find, which always puts a movie script above the rest.

Also, a word of warning; This movie is horribly violent.  The camera spares the audience nothing, "treating" us to torture-style violence and raising the volume of those lovely knife-slitting, skin-burning, blood-curdling sounds and screams.  There is also unnecessary nudity that has no reason to be there besides shock-effect, which is disappointing.

In conclusion, Lawless is a film that set out to tell a really good story.  And it did.  It's fun, it's engaging, and it'll make you laugh, squeal, and cheer all at the right times.  However, it is definitely bogged down by a predictable lead plot that was unenthusiastically performed, and that darn nudity that has no place here.  But if you're willing to look over the shoulder of Shia and Mia's characters, you'll see a world blossoming with interesting characters and intriguing story lines that lead to a climatic finish that had me on the edge of my seat.

RATING: 7/10