High Life
One Last Chance for the Perfect Heist
With thrilling action, wickedly funny humor and an addictive soundtrack, High Life carries on the tradition of the Coen Brothers and Quentin Tarantino! Timothy Olyphant (Live Free Or Die Hard, HBO's Deadwood) leads a motley crew of brain-fried losers, including a hypochondriac pickpocket (Joe Anderson, Across the Universe), an eternally optimistic charmer (Rossif Sutherland, Poor Boy's Game) and a trigger-happy thug (Stephen Eric McIntyre, TV's Falcon Beach). They attempt to stage a bank heist, but when it doesn't go off as planned, all hell breaks loose.
Member Reviews
How can a heist movie be charming? - dcog
I thought, "okay, it's CanCon" so I should do my duty and watch it. I was surprised by how much I liked this movie. Sure, they're criminals. But it was hard to not like them. And having a heavy April Wine soundtrack AND being shot in Winnipeg make it extra fun. Recommended!'High Life' could stand to steal a few laughs - jagfilm
From High Life's opening line, "As far back as I can remember, I've always wanted to be a lawyer," - a riff on Ray Liotta's classic piece of dialogue from Goodfellas - this junkie comedy crime caper feels very much like a product of '90s. Based on the play by Lee MacDougall, the film resembles one of the many low budget post-Pulp Fiction/Reservoir Dogs flicks that, while in plentiful supply that decade, were also severely lacking in quality.
The film follows a fairly simple premise, and one that will be familiar to many viewers. Four guys, each fitting a pretty generic stereotype (the violent one, the smart one, the charming one and the cowardly one) decide to hold up a bank only to find that the heist goes horribly wrong. There are two twists here however. The first, is that the film is set in the '80s at the advent of the introduction of ATMs and the second is that all these guys are morphine junkies. While the former adds a unique setting to the proceedings, the latter simply doesn't work. The film largely plays their addiction for laughs and its simply hard to find the humor it.
The director is blessed with a great cast inlcuding Timothy Olyphant (as Dick, the most highly functioning of the junkies) and Rossif Sutherland (as Billy, the smooth talking partner with model good looks). The four leads all play well off each other, and even if the script isn't working, their energy keeps things moving along.
Yet, despite the best efforts of the talent involved, High Life is a competently made misfire. Clearly indebted to the likes of the Coen brothers and the aforementioned Quentin Tarantino, the film feels like something we've seen before and more importantly, with much better execution. High Life ultimately leaves its audience itching for a fix --- of a better movie.
Member Reviews
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How can a heist movie be charming? - dcog
I thought, "okay, it's CanCon" so I should do my duty and watch it. I was surprised by how much I liked this movie. Sure, they're criminals. But it was hard to not like them. And having a heavy April Wine soundtrack AND being shot in Winnipeg make it extra ...'High Life' could stand to steal a few laughs - jagfilm
From High Life's opening line, "As far back as I can remember, I've always wanted to be a lawyer," - a riff on Ray Liotta's classic piece of dialogue from Goodfellas - this junkie comedy crime caper feels very much like a product of '90s. Based on the play ...