High-Rise

Released by: Magnolia Pictures
Released on: August 9th, 2016.
Director: Ben Wheatley
Cast: Tom Hiddleston, Jeremy Irons, Sienna Miller, Luke Evans, Elisabeth Moss
Year: 2015
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The Movie:

Ben Wheatley's 2015 adaptation of the late J.G. Ballard's 1975 novel stars Tom Hiddleston Doctor Robert Laing, a physiologist by trade. When the movie begins, he's just moved into one of the middle floors of a massive, towering luxury apartment building. Built with all the amenities in mind, it's got everything you could want - a gym, a pool, even a grocery store - all on sight.

Early in the film, the woman who lives upstairs from Laing, Charlotte (Sienna Miller), knocks her bottle of booze off the balcony onto the area where Laing has fallen asleep sunning himself. She's instantly intrigued, much to the dismay of Wilder (Luke Evans), the resident tough guy and a documentary filmmaker who seems to be constantly trying to get into her pants. Never mind the fact that his pregnant wife, Helen (Elisabeth Moss), is almost always left alone in their flat on one of the lower floors to deal with their small army of children. Laing and Charlotte hit it off, bust by her son Toby (Louis Suc) while making out on the balcony one night.

Before long, Laing is summoned to the top floor of the building to meet with Mr. Royal (Jeremy Irons), the architect responsible for the existence of the building in the first place. In constant pain since an accident left him injured, Royal nevertheless wants to play squash with Laing, while his wife struts about their massive outdoor patio with her horse. Soon, however, the lights start flickering and before long, the power goes out completely. Once it does, those who live on the lower floors, who have less, come into conflict with those who live on the higher floors and who are used to getting what they want. Before long, the building has erupted into chaos, technology has failed and tribalism breaks out and the bodies literally pile up.

Set in the decade in which it was written, High-Rise is a rather barbed attack at Thatcherism and trickledown economics dressed up like a dystopian thriller. For the most part, it works and it works well. A bit more character development for Laing would have helped smooth over a few bumps that we hit along the way but for the most part, Amy Jump's screenplay does a pretty rock solid job of capturing the nastiness inherent in Ballard's original work. As heavy handed as it might be, especially during those final few seconds, you won't mind so much not just because its politics are sound, but because the movie is a pretty entertaining work of satire and black comedy.

The film moves at a pretty good pace, particularly in the second half when things in the complex go from bad to worse. As the lower flows erupt into chaos and the upper levels Caligula-esque levels of bacchanalia, Laing's character finds himself caught in the middle and hopeful that he can accomplish something. It's here that we wish we felt a bit more for him, that we understood him a little bit more. Regardless, there's enough established with the other supporting characters in the picture to keep things interesting. The movie also features strong sound design and absolutely perfect art direction and cinematography. The high-rise itself is massive in scope and scale and it features some impressive architectural design while the camera movements are slick and interesting.

The performances really sell this. Hiddleston is very good in the lead, he's just self-assured enough to be believable as the 'best amenity in the building' but at the same time, his flaws seem very real and we know, thanks in no small part to his body language, that he's just as flawed as everyone else in the film. Sienna Miller also delivers great work. Not only is she completely believable as the object of lust for quite a few of the male characters in the film, she shows excellent range here. Aloof and uncaring at times, rather downtrodden in other scenes. Elisabeth Moss is quite convincing as well, playing, at least initially, one of the more sympathetic characters in the picture. Her British accent is good, you'd never guess she's American by birth, and she fits in quite well. Jeremy Irons as Royal (the name is no coincidence - this film is not subtle!) brings a perfect level of snooty pretentiousness to his 'better than you' bourgeoisie architect. At first we feel for him a bit, his injury obviously hampering his life to a certain degree, but like everyone else when technology fails (and this is cleverly foreshadowed in his own apartment when the buzzer stops working) he too shows his true colors. Luke Evans steals pretty much every scene he's in, however. When he's not hitting on Miller's single mom character or brushing off his own wife, he's on a coke fueled party rampage that ends in violence or running about the high-rise like a man possessed trying to get to the top floor to get the footage he wants for his latest documentary project. He throws his weight around really well and makes a lasting impression with his work in this picture.

Video/Audio/Extras:

High-Rise arrives on Blu-ray from Magnolia Releasing framed in its proper 2.40.1 widescreen aspect ratio in an AVC encoded 1080p high definition presentation. Shot digitally, the image is obviously free of any print damage or dirt, while detail is frequently very impressive and at times, approaching reference quality. The film takes place mostly indoors and as such, the colors are a little muted looking, particularly once the power goes out and the lights go off, but those scenes that do take place outside and in brighter light look very warm and show off some impressive color reproduction. Skin tones always look lifelike and natural while black levels are perfectly rock solid. The image is free of any obvious noise reduction, edge enhancement and compression artifacts of note and outside of a tiny bit of aliasing evident in a few spots, there's nothing to complain about. High-Rise looks fantastic on Blu-ray.

The DTS-HD 5.1 track, in English, is a very good one. Optional subtitles are provided in English and Spanish. Dialogue is mostly contained to the front of the mix but rear channels are used very effectively in the more active scenes of chaos. The score sounds great too, frequently making use of all channels. Portisheads' cover of ABBA's S.O.S. sounds fantastic here. Levels are nicely balanced while bass response is strong, but not overpowering; giving certain scenes and a few specific sounds effects some welcome LFE action. As you'd expect for a movie this recent, there are no issues with any hiss or distortion. The sound mix for this release is just as strong as the transfer.

Extras start off with a commentary track with leading man Tom Hiddleston, director Ben Wheatley and producer Jeremy Thomas. This is a pretty active track that covers more or less all the requisite commentary bases - there's discussion of casting the film, the locations used for the picture, the effects work required for specific scenes, the themes and ideas that the picture takes on. There's also some talk of Ballard's original novel, the film's politics, and quite a bit more.

Additionally the disc includes a few interesting featurettes, starting with Building The World Of High-Rise: 70's Style, which examines what went into getting the movie's very specific look down right. Wheatley talks about the locations used, some of the technology used in the shoot and more. In Heady Special Effects we learn a bit more about some of the scenes that required a bit more effects work than others, while Breaking Down High-Rise & Its Tenants gives us some interesting cast interviews in which all the key players talk up their characters and their thoughts on the picture itself. In High-Rise: Bringing Ballard To The Big Screen we spend a few more minutes with Wheatley, Hiddleston and the lovely Ms. Miller wherein they provide some thoughts on Ballard's original source material.

Outside of that we get a theatrical trailer, trailers for a few other Magnolia Releasing properties, animated menus and chapter selection. The Blu-ray case fits inside a cardboard slipcover featuring artwork that is identical to the insert cover sleeve.

The Final Word:

High-Rise takes the audience into some very dark territory and it's not always an easy watch, but it's very well put together on Wheatley's end and the cast all deliver excellent work. A bit more character development for Hiddleston's character would have helped a bit, but otherwise this is engaging and challenging filmmaking. The Blu-ray release from Magnolia Picture looks and sounds excellent and contains a pretty strong selection of accompanying extra features, making this quite a nice package overall.

Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!