Science-fiction is the one genre of movies with the an unique ability to ask questions about technology, its influence on the human condition and the future in general. Some sci-fi movies do that brilliantly while being really entertaining at the same time. In the Cloud sounded as one of these movies, especially considering the cast which includes Gabriel Byrne, who I've always associated with good cinema.
Sadly, my assumptions were completely wrong. In the Cloud is not a good movie. It's not even a decent movie, which is quite surprising seeing that it has a pretty strong cast. The actors are good, but they simply didn't have a lot to work with. The beginning of the plot is quite promising: a genius scientist claims he's found a way to map a human brain and preserve people's memories forever. Unfortunately, soon a million things start to happen at once: terrorist attacks, CIA wanting to take over the project, a mysterious organisation, drug-filled trips into the sicentist's memories, etc. It would be okay in a series, but in a movie with a running time of 1.5 hour it's too much. It is really hard to follow the plot and its super-fast pacing means that the characters don't really have any personality and in result I found it impossible to care about any of them.
I also have to mention special effects, as they are truly awful. I know that the movie isn't a blockbuster, so I wasn't expecting too much, but they were still able to disappoint me. They look like something out of a 1990s movie. In 2018 even small productions can afford decent CGI. To make things worse, often the special effects are really distracting, especially in the scenes exploring memories. If anything they make a bad movie even worse. I wouldn't recommend In the Cloud to anyone.
Sadly, my assumptions were completely wrong. In the Cloud is not a good movie. It's not even a decent movie, which is quite surprising seeing that it has a pretty strong cast. The actors are good, but they simply didn't have a lot to work with. The beginning of the plot is quite promising: a genius scientist claims he's found a way to map a human brain and preserve people's memories forever. Unfortunately, soon a million things start to happen at once: terrorist attacks, CIA wanting to take over the project, a mysterious organisation, drug-filled trips into the sicentist's memories, etc. It would be okay in a series, but in a movie with a running time of 1.5 hour it's too much. It is really hard to follow the plot and its super-fast pacing means that the characters don't really have any personality and in result I found it impossible to care about any of them.
I also have to mention special effects, as they are truly awful. I know that the movie isn't a blockbuster, so I wasn't expecting too much, but they were still able to disappoint me. They look like something out of a 1990s movie. In 2018 even small productions can afford decent CGI. To make things worse, often the special effects are really distracting, especially in the scenes exploring memories. If anything they make a bad movie even worse. I wouldn't recommend In the Cloud to anyone.