Upon seeing the intriguing movie trailer for the film, “High Rise”, I made sure I made my way to my local theater upon the film’s limited release (May 13th). Coincidentally, Tom Hiddleston also stars in this film. He is slowly becoming one of my favorite actors (and yes, he is good in this as well). My first impressions of the film left me wondering just what exactly the message was. You see, this is the problem with the film. It brings about many issues that would come as a result of a skyscraper full of people from different social classes living in the same building. With that being said, the film was a lot to digest.
The narrative briefly begins by showcasing the end of the story and then going back three months earlier. We see a ‘high rise’ completely destroyed and Hiddleston’s character, Dr. Robert Laing, rummaging the rooms for any food. Flash rewind to three months prior and we see how Dr. Laing (a biophysicist) acclimates to life in the twenty-fifth floor apartment. We find out that he moved to the insulated (from the outside world) tower block after his sister had died.
Things go wrong when the tower begins to have ‘outages’ (i.e. water and electric shortages) which really takes a toll on the lower class citizens on the lower levels. However, after a suicide occurs with the absence of police, a lower-class resident, Richard Wilder (played by an electric Luke Evans), begins to investigate the ‘injustices’ of the tower. He believes that the buildings creator is ultimately responsible, Royal (played by Jeremy Irons).
As anarchy pervades the tower, sometimes with ample doses of satire, we begin to form a picture of the result of different class citizens living in the same building. A caste system isn’t mean to work and if the author (J.G. Ballard) of the 1975 book on which this is based may tell you, capitalism constrains political freedom. This point is muddled in the second and third acts of the film in favor of showcasing the strain to utter chaos of those that continue to ‘have’ and those that ‘no longer have’. Not to mention, how blame is assigned – referring to Wilder’s blame of Royal for his predicament. This is misplaced blame when, in fact, (again if the author will tell you) Wilder should be blaming capitalism. You pluck Royal and surely another will prop up to take his place as ‘the architect’ or leader held responsible for all known conflicts. This notion was strong enough to be noticed in the latter half of the film that I commend the approach and ‘message’, albeit minor against its gargled backdrop. We cannot blame one person for all problems as that is too easy. Rather, we should attack an idea if we wish to eradicate our problems.
“High Rise” is expertly directed (funny at moments, but ultimately becomes lost in its own convictions. The film is highly stylized and has a similar satirical view of politics much like “Brazil” has.
The film stars Tom Hiddleston (Thor, The Night Manager), Luke Evans (Fast and Furious 6), Elisabeth Moss (Mad Men), Sienna Miller (American Sniper), and Jeremy Irons (Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Dead Ringers) and is directed by up and comer, Ben Wheatley.
Grade: C+
Personally, I’m excited to see Gaston on the screen again. He was the best part of the “Beauty and the Beast” animated movie. He’s pompous and interesting. I believe the same logic is used with Prince Humperdinck in “The Princess Bride”. To be sure of this will be the tone that the studio is trying to create. I am hoping for a light, corky and fun take on the source material. They better not make it needlessly dark. It’s best to look at the tone for the upcoming “Cinderella” as indicative of what else is to come.
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