Review of High-Rise (2015) by Angelo C — 15 May 2016

High-Rise is an interesting--and definitely flawed--movie, and a lot of it has to do with the fact that Ben Wheatley is an interesting director. I'm not entirely familiar with his work as I've only seen Sightseers, which I thought was pretty good despite my being somewhat taken aback at how unapologetically dark his comedy is.

High-Rise is much more of a thriller, though, and although it isn't an incredibly original film, it's still pretty fascinating. It's a bizarre mix of Kubrick and Orwell that allows for some striking and disturbing social commentary--that is, before it falls squarely into self-indgulence.

After his sister dies, Dr. Robert Laing (Tom Hiddleston) moves into a futuristic and idealized tower where the richer live in the higher floors and those closer to common folk live closer to the ground.

Things start to go south, though, and a start of class warfare starts to emerge. I haven't read J.G. Ballard's 1975 novel on which it's based, but it is quite similar to Snowpiercer--a much darker Snowpiercer.

The movie opens towards its ending showing Hiddleston in his destroyed flat, killing and spit-roasting a bloodied dog, and that pretty much sets the tone of the film. I wouldn't go as far as to say that its boldness is a game-changer or anything, but it's certainly refreshing.

The movie carries an off-puttingly clean aesthetic reminiscent of Kubrick's work circa 2001: A Space Odyssey and more so A Clockwork Orange, both in terms of this film's visuals and use of classical music throughout.

From the beginning it's apparent that this ostensible utopia of a living arrangement is really a trap as its core. The titular high-rise, often shot with the gravity of the monolith from 2001, is almost like a glamorized prison for the one percent.

The tenants have recreational areas, outdoor spaces, and a generic grocery story, inhibiting any incentive to leave other than an outside job. The movie comments on that, and it's just the line between success and excess that's explored, but the line between excess and depravity.

You'd be hard-pressed to find characters here that aren't jaded, smug, or just obnoxious. When these characters' living spaces become what is more or less their entire world, it makes sense to treat the building as such, and Wheatley's direction allows for tons of images that play like a dystopian version of The Great Gatsby's parties.

There are a ton of shots that elicited some full-on vertigo from me, and Clint Mansell's score does a very good job at furthering the audience into this gray world. All of these aspects of High-Rise are pretty consistent throughout the first 80 minutes or so.

Wheatley succeeds at entrancing and disturbing his viewers, and his specific vision is undeniable. After a while, though, it becomes less of an exploration of these types of characters, as Wheatley seems to unintentionally become one of the characters that he started off indicting.

This movie is 119 minutes, and although that isn't a very long duration, it's really just the first half that's really good. A slight drop-off then commences, and for the last quarter or so, the movie becomes repetitive, boring, and too in love with itself.

High-Rise is a solid 30 minutes longer than it should be and it really detracts from the overall experience. A lot of it is great, but you can only show depravity, kaleidoscopic cinematography, slow motion, and ennui before the audience totally checks out, and that's what happened to me.

Although High-Rise has a lot of great material throughout the first three quarters and Wheatley knows for the most part what he's doing. The actors do good jobs but aren't amazing or anything; it's what they're doing that's truly fascinating.

But when a movie is 33 percent longer than it should be with enough clear justification or engagement, then it starts to fall apart like the society that it presents. But hey, at least all of the pieces are still clearly there.

6.2/10, okay, one thumb down, average, etc.