'High-Rise' A Review

High-Rise is a thriller about a high-rise tower built by visionary architect Anthony Royal(Jeremy Irons) which quickly descends into anarchy and class warfare. The movie opens on Dr. Laing(Tom Hiddleston) in his ravaged condo spit-roasting a dog. It then flashes back three months then proceeds to show the high-rise's decline into violence and debauchery.

Whether a function of the script or deficiencies in performance no character in the movie is actually likable or compelling. Hiddleston give us the same weary eyes and detached smirk we've seen from him before with none of his usual depth. Irons is almost always watchable but struggles with a character arc that goes from muddled to incoherent. Although there are strong women in the cast, notably Sienna Miller and Elisabeth Moss, their characters are offensively transparent narrative and sexual props. Luke Evans as struggling unhinged documentary filmmaker at least has energy but his(along with everyone else's) motivations are non-existent or so illogical they are pointless.

The high-rise as economic allegory is an interesting idea but undeveloped and tepid in this adaptation from the 1975 novel. The first half of the movie is spent in set up which is then followed by a montage speeding through the how and why of the high-rise's societal disintegration. The rich live on top, the poor live on the bottom is evident early on but past that purpose, parallels, and any kind of commentary is lost. What the movie is truly about, what it highlights, frames, and scores with the most attention are the rampant substance abuse and base sexual hedonism of both classes. And considering none of the characters are ever developed nor are they particularly engaging all the flesh, booze, and blood on display is meaningless.

A pretentious hollow Caligula with illusions of satire. Closer to softcore porn than cinema.

Don't See It.