Update: The film just screened in Toronto. Check out impressions below after the trailer and come back for our full review.
Following an epic six-minute look at Wachowskis and Tom Tykwer‘s ambitious undertaking of Cloud Atlas, WB has released a standard, two-and-a-half minute trailer for the film. Based on David Mitchell‘s novel, spanning multiple time periods over a thousand years, with actors playing multiple characters, this is high up on my most-anticipated films of the year list. We’re given a condensed preview of the six different time periods and stories including a Pacific Ocean voyage, an English musician in 1930s Belgium, a journalist in 1975 Buenas Yerbas, California, a present day London gangster story, a clone story in a future Korea and then finally, a post-apocalyptic Hawaii.
The longer look was definitely necessary as the one feels quite rushed in comparison, but we still get a look at some new scenes and shots here and there. Premiering at Toronto International Film Festival this weekend the ensemble stars Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Jim Sturgess, Susan Sarandon, Ben Whishaw, Jim Broadbent, Hugh Grant, James D’Arcy, Keith David, Bae Doona and David Gyasi. Check out the trailer and new poster below or over on Apple in HD.
TIFF Impressions
@cbumbray
CLOUD ATLAS- bold, dynamic and occasionally brilliant. Also divisive to say the least. #TIFF12
@johnsemley3000
CLOUD ATLAS (Cooks in the Kitchen): Not even its enormous failures are interesting. Unredeemably bad. And long. #TIFF12
@colliderfrosty
Blown away by the scale and scope of CLOUD ATLAS. Brilliant on so many levels. Absolutely loved it. While every studio and most filmmakers play it safe, CLOUD ATLAS is a shining light reminding us what’s possible in cinema.
@SamuelAAdams
CLOUD ATLAS (B+): Lots to quibble with, esp. on the yellowface front, but it’s a movie of big ideas, and only a few of them are terrible.
@RylandAldrich
CLOUD ATLAS is remarkable for scope and ambition. Having just read the book, it’s difficult not to judge through adaptation lenses. #TIFF
@simonsaybrams
CLOUD ATLAS: well, at least it’s sometimes good. Wildly uneven but mostly underdone. Filmmakers’ ambitions vastly exceeded by means. C+.
@devincf
I think CLOUD ATLAS is brilliant and amazing and is going to be hated by a lot of people. I also think a lot of people who loved SPEED RACER might hate CLOUD ATLAS. Radically, utterly different type of movie.
@Mike_Rot
Cloud Atlas goes beyond terrible into something sublimely entertaining. #TIFF12 #cloudatlas
@DrewAtHitFix
Wow. I don’t care if I’m alone on this one, but I’m surprised at the instant knee-jerk dismissal of one of my favorite films this year.
@scott_tobias
CLOUD ATLAS (Tykwer/Wachowskis, C) Obliterates the book’s nesting-doll structure in favor of a symphonic fiasco of artistry and tackiness.
@WkndWarriorCS
Cloud Atlas is an absolutely brilliant adaptation… but will anyone who hasn’t read the book connect with such a strange premise? #tiff12
@kiva_jane
CLOUD ATLAS: I was jealous of the man snoring next to me. F- to infinity. Full stop.
@misterpatches
Not an emotional punch, but Cloud Atlas is mesmerizing start to finish thanks to juxtaposition of grand themes, acting & images. I think the editing and performances in Cloud Atlas are brilliant. Watching great actors jump from character to character is a joy. Cloud Atlas is good election season fodder. Power figures demanding complacency to societal rules, others fighting back for humanity. #TIFF12
@EriktheMovieman
Will be easy to think SOUTHLAND TALES or DUNE for 1st half of CLOUD ATLAS, but I think it evolves into a very important, even inspiring work. CLOUD ATLAS is a film that demands patience. Patience that many moviegoers probably don’t possess. But it pays off beautifully. #tiff12
@JHoffman6
CLOUD ATLAS is like the MATRIX trilogy in micro – starts absolutely brilliantly, then a slog. #TIFF12
@calummarsh
CLOUD ATLAS is like a combination between PHANTOM MENACE and JOHN CARTER, except worse. It’s even worse than the third MATRIX movie.
@firstshowing
Cloud Atlas – A cinematic revelation. Pulled it off. THIS is the movie of the year. Pushes boundaries of storytelling. More than PTA. Wow! Cloud Atlas wins Best Makeup hands down. It will not be loved by all, but it pushes the audience to embrace the brilliance within it.
@peterhowellfilm
CLOUD ATLAS: Art + awe. Remarkable as much for its colossal ambition as for its high-wire narrative and lush visuals.
@empiremovies
#CloudAtlas was an interesting concept. Looked great. Good performances. Ultimately inaccessible. #TIFF12
@Sean_OConnell
CLOUD ATLAS is dense, grandiose, human spectacle with messages both big and small. Technical wow that has issues, but stays worthy. #TIFF12
@erickohn
CLOUD ATLAS is five or six movies interrupting each other. #tiff12
@western221
Cloud Atlas – Had great expectations going in; still digesting the movie. Best way i can describe the movie right now is meh. #TIFF12
@AbdulYMalik
Cloud Atlas is one of the truest epics I have ever seen. The fuck did I just watch.
@RavingOstrich
3 hours later, and cloud atlas is the single greatest cinematic experience I’ve ever had.
@DiGileno
Cloud Atlas was fantastic! Congratulations to all who had a hand in making this film! #TIFF12 @tomhanks
@jonnytull
CLOUD ATLAS: I totally enjoyed it. It’s totally crazy and has dangerous levels of daft. I hope they were intentional.
@ClassicSource
Amazed by the audacity and beauty of Cloud Atlas, but tough to digest in one sitting. Likely requires multiple viewings. #TIFF12
@david_t_cox_
CLOUD ATLAS is generously stuffed with exciting images & ideas, most of which work on some level. Even when it falters it’s still formidable
@perMarlow
CLOUD ATLAS=ultimate cheeseball (meant in the nicest of ways, honestly). Sequences “borrowed” from some great films (and some not-so-great).
@calummarsh
CLOUD ATLAS (Wachowski, #TIFF): Unfortunately, I cannot tell you how bad Cloud Atlas is–you have to see it for yourself.
@filmfest_ca
CLOUD ATLAS is big, bold, loud, shiny yet slightly precious and misguided, and basically a love letter to Roddenberry’s ghost #TIFF12
@quixoticlaugh
Cloud Atlas (book) was a complex layered story. The narrative can be hard to follow, but worth it. The movie is the same. #TIFF12
@NoelMu
CLOUD ATLAS (B) 6 movies in one, none of them great, most of them at least okay. Some choices don’t pan out, and the film strains…for poignancy, but damned if CLOUD ATLAS isn’t an impressive feat of plate-spinning. Like second half of INCEPTION for three hours.
@FredTopel
CLOUD ATLAS is the best, most uncommercial movie you’ll see for years. In the credits still learning how monumental it was.
@mikeryan
I really admire the effort behind Cloud Atlas, but, boy, I felt almost every minute of its running time. And speaking as someone who didn’t care much for Cloud Atlas, I’d still recommend it because it’s quite remarkable as a spectacle. #tiff12
@beets
Cloud Atlas is amazing. And confusing. You’ll need to watch it more than once. #TIFF12
@ryanodonnell
Cloud Atlas will inspire good post-viewing conversation. Remember what it was like after you saw the Matrix the first time? Like that. #TIFF
@aliciamalone
Wow, super long standing ovation at the premiere of Cloud Atlas!Remarkable piece of work, am huge fan of the book so really enjoyed #TIFF12
@johnnyhockin
Cloud Atlas: I adored the book, & was enjoying reliving it. Huge achievement in filmmaking. But unsure if it really makes sense as a movie
@BuzzSugar
Just got out of a screening of Cloud Atlas. Mind still buzzing. Not sure what to think. #TIFF12
@MattGoldberg
CLOUD ATLAS is greater than the sum of its parts, and its parts are pretty terrific. #tiff12 #cloudatlas
@mrbeaks
Adored CLOUD ATLAS. Deft interweaving of six stories, and sincere as all get out. Might annoy some, but I felt every big emotion was earned.
@ShannonVestal
3 word review of Cloud Atlas: I JUST CAN’T. #TIFF12
@glasneronfilm
Cloud Atlas. Admire the ambition but some segments rather clunky. Universal themes can’t cover questionable makeup & limits of Tom Hanks.
@FassFass
Cloud Atlas was superb, I loved it!
@kylekasino
Cloud Atlas was such a wonderful film. I’m in love with it. My choice thus far for picture of the festival. #TIFF12
@gkilday
Cloud Atlas keeps so many balls up in air at once have to admire its audacity. Lots to admire, some things to quarrel with, but a must see.
@LouLumenick
CLOUD ATLAS: Think INTOLERANCE if Griffith was on LSD. Never a dull moment. Actors have a ball in multiple roles. More TK. #TIFF12
@leoraheilbronn
Cloud Atlas has the best geriatric escape scene from a drag Hugo Weaving EVER. #TIFF12
@franklinleonard
I feel reasonably safe in saying that CLOUD ATLAS is the most ambitious film I’ve ever seen.
@modage
Cloud Atlas (C) Sprawlingly ambitious but dramatically inert adaptation features A-list cast wearing distractingly bad prosthetics. #TIFF12
@djkevlar
Excuse me while I spend the next three hours processing Cloud Atlas.
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Synopsis:
The powerful, inspiring epic Cloud Atlas explores how the actions and consequences of individual lives impact one another throughout the past, the present and the future, as one soul is shaped from a killer into a hero, and a single act of kindness ripples across centuries to inspire a revolution.
Cloud Atlas, clocking in at 164 minutes, arrives on October 26th, 2012.