10 Most Overrated Movies Of 2016 (So Far)

I was convinced that, without question, High-Rise would go down as one of my favourite films of 2016. Looking at the personnel involved alone, I believed with every inch of my being that it was destined for greatness: Ben Wheatley, the British director behind such modern classics as Down Terrace, Kill List and Sightseers, adapting a perfect novel by the late, great J.G. Ballard. Genius.

But I was a fool for believing that Wheatley and Ballard had been perfect for one another, because High-Rise is almost definitely terrible.

That the majority of critics gave it good notices is - quite frankly - bizarre, because at least 60% of High-Rise is unwatchable. Whilst it starts off well enough, with a suitable tone, a good Tom Hiddleston performance and impressive visuals, it soon descends into a series of incomprehensible moments that are beyond boring. It is not clear what is going on, or why, or for what purpose. It's a mess.

High-Rise also shoots for Kubrickian weirdness and fails entirely in the process, as all sense of logic and plot are thrown out of the window (where they proceed to fall forty stories before splattering on the pavement). It's as though the director thought that this surrealness would be interpreted as intelligent. Sadly not. The opposite.

Oh, Ben Wheatley, how could you do this? How did you do this?