Kurt Loder on Cloud Atlas

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For a movie so jammed full of stuff—nearly three hours' worth of it—Cloud Atlas feels oddly empty, observes Kurt Loder. Written and directed by Lana and Andy Wachowski and German filmmaker Tom Tykwer (Run Lola Run, The International), the picture is both madly ambitious and ultimately banal. Viewers unfamiliar with the 2004 David Mitchell novel on which it's based may also find it baffling.