Cloud Atlas (2012)

A top cast including Oscar winners Halle Berry, Tom Hanks, Susan Sarandon and Jim Broadbent star in multiple roles in this ambitious adaptation of David Mitchell's sprawling, thought-provoking bestseller.

The threads of six engrossing storylines are woven together in an epic tapestry which spans almost half a millennium of love, destiny, progress and regression. Tumbling back and forth between a 19th century slave-trading world, 1930s Cambridgeshire, 1970s San Francisco, modern Britain and a distant post-apocalyptic future, the almighty story deals with themes of reincarnation and the meaning of humankind as history relentlessly repeats itself, throwing the same souls together one generation after the next.

The Wachowskis, who have already dealt with big budget philosophical ideas in The Matrix Trilogy, team up with German director Tom Tykwer (Run Lola Run) and attempt the impossible by lifting Mitchell's abundant tale from its pages.

The lengthy product of their efforts is captivating from start to finish, bringing the best out of its cast as they tackle roles requiring changes in age, gender and even ethnicity amid impressive prosthetics and eye-popping sets and CGI. It's a film that is sure to stir the grey matter into action, and builds to a climax that brings all the segments together in thrilling unison.