Of Atlasing Clouds!! [Part 1]

Movie Review time!!

CLOUD ATLAS

Finally, watched Cloud Atlas!
Had been very intrigued with the concept, etc etc etc.....
But well, was confused at the very beginning because they sorta just jumped into the story. And then it sends you across 6 different lifetimes and you'll be like...
"Who's who??"

Well, you see those number of casts up there? They are well, kinda like the main casts but then...you wouldn't imagine how many roles each of them played. I think one actor/actress played a minimum of 3 roles!
Holy crappamolly!!!
They had to like switch between roles and it's just..woah....tests how many personalities they can actually bring out.

Well, generally Cloud Atlas talks about how everything is connected. It talks about our past lives and our present and our future, that the people that we meet, or have connection with us, will be in our lives in the future or have been in our past.

We may hold different connections with one another, like take for example:

Boy A meets Girl A and Girl B.
They maybe friends but they could be just acquaintances in the future.

I have to say, Cloud Atlas's concept is really really interesting. Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 67% freshness rating and I guess that's already pretty good. :D (Okay, maybe it could've gotten a 70%. Just round it up dammit!)

Okay, Cloud Atlas basically goes through 6 different years with each character in 6 different lifetimes (Well, there was one who had 1 lifetime in 2 different years. (He aged!!!))

The chronological order of the life is (included the year that particular lifetime takes place in)

1. The Pacific Journal of Adam Ewing (1849)
2. Letter fron Zedelghem (1936)
3. Half-Lives: The First Luisa Rey Mystery Characters (1973)
4. The Ghastly Ordeal of Timothy Cavendish (2012)
5. An Orison of Sonmi-451 (2144)
6. Sloosha's Crossin' An' Ev'rythin' After (2321)

Well, I will go through the story one-by-one here. XP

1. The Pacific Journal of Adam Ewing

I'm a little blur in this one. Well, generally, I was blur at almost every single one...well, I think except the Sonmi story and the last one. HEH xD

So, start off with the characters in this chapter

1. Adam Ewing

Adam Ewing, played by Jim Sturgess, is a San Francisco attorney who is married to Tilda Ewing (played by Doona Bae). He meets Autua, a black slave who was tied and whipped. On the same island, he meets Dr Henry Goose (played by Tom Hanks) who had seemed to be a wee bit eccentric but then he found some similarities between the both of them and soon became friends.
On his voyage back home to San Francisco on the Prophetess, Henry tells Adam that he has a mysterious ailment that needs to be treated and Henry, being a doctor, tends to that ailment.


2. Henry Goose

Dr Henry Goose, portrayed by award-winning actor Tom Hanks is pretty much an eccentric, odd person. Adam first met him on an island on the voyage back to San Francisco and finds him digging up teeth left by the cannibals of the island. Well, Dr Henry Goose ain't really a doctor- in fact, he was a dangerous con man who conspires to rob Adam Ewing off his gold.


3. Autua

Autua, played by David Gyasi, was one of the black slaves on the island where Adam's vessel had stopped for a repair. Adam first saw Autua when the latter was being whipped as the natives there somewhat carries out this public flogging. =.= Don't really get the idea though....Well, Autua then sneaks on board the Prophetess and pleas to Adam take him with him to San Francisco. The latter had initially objected until Autua then asked of him to kill him because the act of refusing him is similar to the act of killing him. Adam then agrees and the friendship between the both of them then started.



            *-------------------Spoilers down below---------------------*

Henry, who had seemed to be Adam's "friend", wasn't all that he seemed to be. Henry, who knows that Adam has a chest filled with gold plans to rob him. So, he made up the excuse that Adam has a mysterious 'ailment' to 'treat' him, feeding him with poison in order to send Adam to his death (if not death, just make him blind). However, Adam, who has taken Autua under his protection, saving the latter's life from a crossbow, saves Adam's live and later, treating him with salt water to wash away the poison from his stomach (regurgitation, yup)
Adam managed to return home to his home and wife in San Francisco and then tells his father-in-law that he wishes to leave San Francisco and go to the east of the states to join the Slavery Abolishment Movement, with the support of his wife, Tilda.

          *---------------------END-OF-SPOILERS--------------------*

Well, my favourite quote from this part of the story is said by Henry Goose:

"The weak are meat and the strong do eat"

It's like saying:
The strong shall live and the weak shall die.

And another one by Adam Ewing himself:

"What is an ocean, but a multitude of drops?"

This concludes part 1 of this review. I give this story..well....
3.5/5?
Well, because I generally couldn't differentiate Adam and another character from the second part. Until...well....almost halfway throughout the movie <--- *slaps self*

Screencaps from the movie:

Images found from : Google Images