Movie Review: High-Rise

Ben Wheatley's High-Rise works as both social satire and an incredibly bleak view of how not all technology is actually a benefit to humanity. Based on the 1975 science fiction novel of the same name by J.G. Ballard, the story focusing on a number of residents of a new high-rise building which works as a self-contained community; including amenities, grocery stores, entertainment, etc., and shows how quickly a project can go from the ideal to a brutal reality.

The film focuses on Dr. Robert Laing (Tom Hiddleston) who, over the course of three months moves from new tenant to perfect tenant, in one of the eeriest ways possible. The film has a mid-70s aesthetic and uses the ABBA song S.O.S. to brilliant affect throughout, and in ways I've never heard ABBA before.

The film does include a lot of graphic and violent imagery, and is definitely meant for mature audiences, but along with the original novel, is well worth examining and uses both shock and unexpected humour to make its point.