Review of High-Rise (2015) by Leena L — 04 Oct 2015

VIFF Review: Ben Wheatley's "High-Rise" is a film of multiple pros and cons. I looks great, it has a great score, everyone delivers a solid performance(especially Luke Evans), some of the Comedy and Horror elements work really well, and it has many moments of stunning/creative visuals. However, the narrative is presented in an awful manner as it's a simple concept and story over complicated for the sake of over complicating it. Even though complexity is a major trait in Ben Wheatley's films, it's a con for "High-Rise" as opposed to a pro in his other films like "Kill List" and "A Field In England". However, for all of it's complexity, you are not rewarded with anything special besides it's visual flair and energy and everything is really quite straight forward once you get to the bottom of things.

Most people have been split between calling this movie a masterpiece or a incompresensible mess. However, I am somewhere in between. "High-Rise" is just creative and entertaining enough for me to pass it, but overall, it's just really fucking okay.