If movies were reviewed based solely on their visual presentation...

"Cloud Atlas would score very close to 100 out of 100.  But that's not the only factor in evaluating a movie and sadly, there are parts of this film that don't match the incredibly high level of its imagery.

Don't get me wrong.  It's a very good film, bordering on brilliance.  It just doesn't maintain that level throughout, with some sequences being much better than others.  Based on the 2004 best-selling novel by David Mitchell, it tells the same six stories, although not in any particular order or structure.

The six stories in the novel are set in approximately:

the 1850s
the 1930s
the mid 1970s
the early 21st Century
a dystopian future
a post-apocalyptic distant future.

The main themes involve reincarnation and we see the same actors portraying the various characters in their various incarnations.  Not every actor is in every story, but it's close, and the cast is first rate.  Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Hugo Weaving, Bae Doona, Jim Broadbent, James D'Arcy and Jim Sturgess all deliver strong performances.  Better still, they manage to be consistent in their high level of acting achievement even when playing different characters in different time periods.

It would be easy to get confused as the films leaps from story to story, but because of the depth of the acting and the astonishing visuals, most viewers will be entranced.  The scenes set in "Neo-Seoul", which is located near the ruins of the original Seoul are the most stunning.  There are a few tiny things that are reminiscent of the Wachowski siblings own "Matrix" trilogy, but not enough to raise any real fuss over. 

I'm not going to get into any details about the six stories themselves, as they all deserve to be seen and experienced as the writer/directors adapted Mitchell's novel.  As previously mentioned, the intertwining of these stories is complex and requires you to pay close attention.  But seen on their own, each of the six tales is engaging and is a complete story within itself.