Review of High-Rise (2015) by Ben M — 17 Aug 2016

"Director Ben Wheatly has made a nerving and unsettling art house film".

Movie Review: High-Rise.

Date Viewed: May 25 2016.

Directed By Ben Wheatley (Kill List, A Field in England and Sightseers).

Screenplay By Amy Jump, Based on the novel by J.G. Ballard.

Starring: Tom Hiddleston, Sienna Miller, Jeremy Irons, Elisabeth Moss, Luke Evans,.

James Purefoy, Keeley Hawes, Augustus Prew, Peter Ferdinando, Reece Shearsmith,.

Sienna Guillory, Dan Renton Skinner and Enzo Cilenti.

"High-Rise" is an art-house movie with three-piece suits and full of mayhem. It's premise is very similar to 2014's dystopian masterpiece "Snowpiercer" but this time it's set in a high-rise tower. "High-Rise" has intriguingly chaotic ideas but it collapses when we get to the third act. However, with fine performances from Tom Hiddleston, Luke Evans, Sienna Miller and Jeremy Irons, I'll give this film a reservation.

Based on the 1975 cult novel by J.G. Ballard, "High-Rise" is set during a dystopian 1970s where we center around a luxurious tower block. Not only do residents live in the tower, they can also abolish themselves from the outside world. The tower's occupants include new resident Dr. Robert Laing (Hiddleston), a reputable architect, Anthony Royal (Irons), Laing's upstairs neighbor and single mother, Charlotte Melville (Miller) and her son, Toby (Louis Suc) and documentarian Richard Wilder (Evans) and his heavily-pregnant wife, Helen (Elisabeth Moss).

The high-rise tower has everything from a spa, a super-market, a pool, a gym and even a school. However, violence and anarchy descends into the tower when power and infrastructure begin to fail. Tensions flare between the towers occupants as they engage in a turf war over survival. This story about isolation could've been written more sharper and it doesn't live up to J.G. Ballard's original source material but director Ben Wheatly (Kill List, A Field in England and Sightseers) has made a nerving and unsettling art house film.

The performances from Hiddleston, Miller and Irons are right on the money and I was particularly pleased with Luke Evans for taking on a strange and deranged role, he should get more roles like this I think. This slick adaptation does have thought-provoking themes but it doesn't have the hardware to build "High-Rise" into a challenging dystopian metaphor. Nevertheless, I still liked the movie for it's complex ideas and fine acting.