Based on the best-selling 2004 novel by David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas is a film that can only be classified as a mixed genre affair consisting of action, sci-fi, comedy and romance all uncomfortably stuffed into one film under the direction of siblings Lana and Andy Wachowski (The Matrix) and Tom Tykwer. There are six interweaved plots (hence the all-star ensemble caste), which is hard enough to pull off in novel form, and a real high-wire act on film. These stories take us from remote South Pacific Ocean islands in the 19th century to a post-apocalyptic future, while the connections that build up between them attempt to tell a more profound message about the interrelations of all human lives past and future.

In 1849, Adam Ewing (Jim Sturgess) travels the Pacific Ocean, falls ill, is conned by a man posing as a doctor and eventually saved by a slave. In 1936, Robert Frobisher (Ben Whishaw) creates a masterpiece called “The Cloud Atlas Sextet” and is pushed by his mentor. In 1973, journalist Luisa Rey (Halle Berry) is pursued by a killer intent on stopping her from exposing a bigger conspiracy. In 2012, Timothy Cavendish (Jim Broadbent) is tricked by his own brother into being trapped in a nursing home (and ends up being the movie’s comic relief). Neo Seoul, in 2144, is home to Sonmi-451 (Doona Bae), a rebel who wants to break free from a life of servitude. Finally, in a post-apocalyptic world, Zachary (Tom Hanks) must escape cannibals to survive.

Gradually, the stories progress and the parallels between each one grow clearer, painting Mitchell’s view of the universe which you could argue is somewhat Buddhist, or Karmic, with a series of consequences that can carry on through time, and even lives, to affect people far in the past or future. The movie looks fantastic, whether it’s the CGI or the makeup which sees actors reappear in, at times, completely unrecognizable forms. As The Daily Telegraph’s Theo Thait wrote, “In short, Cloud Atlas spends half its time wanting to be The Simpsons and the other half the Bible.” The Simpsons parts are genuinely funny, such as the ridiculous nurse played by Hugo Weaving. Overall, the actors ability to mix genres and periods is a tour de force, and a breath of fresh air. But we weren’t so convinced that Cloud Atlas really is the messianic message it also tries to be.