The riot club is the first movie that I went to see this year and it did not disappoint. The movie started off like a British comedy and I immediately felt ripped off because it wasn't the movie I expected to see. I don't know what exactly I was expecting but I can tell you that I did not except to feel so strongly about it. It was a roller coaster ride of emotions. As much as it is unsettling, I like when a movie makes me uneasy, takes me out of my comfort zone. I might have felt like this because I only expected excess and debauchery like it was some sort of a classy American Pie movie. The Riot Club has excess and debauchery but it goes deeper than that. there's a slow build up and it tackles how these guys worship money, power, and how entitle they feel. It's a movie that makes you think and feel, a visceral kind of emotions, the kind that made me want to get out of my seat and do something, but I didn't because it's a movie and it's not really happening, at least not right at that moment. Film is art and art is perceived differently depending on the time and the person, I understand that. The movie riled me up and was difficult to watch, not in a "it's bad" kind of way it just got under my skin. The film was so powerful and clearly done that the worst of the bunch is first introduced as a sweetheart who I didn't suspect to have such passion and fire in him however misplaced it may be. A quarter to the end I was resolved to leave the theater with a bitter taste in my mouth, a feeling of injustice and I did, but at least it wasn't as acidic as I taught it would be, it was bittersweet. The characters are a bit stereotypical but the cast is top notch. Like I said it's a slow build up and as time pass they get credible and intense, you're in it living it. Of course some of them take more of the spotlight (Irons & Claflin) than the others but they were all very good. The meager female presence is striking, not only because their beauty in this sausage fest, but the up most talent they showed and how relatable they were. The film is deep, clever, brilliant even in how the story is presented, developed and resolved. When I think back on it, it's the best kind of negotiations where both parties leave a little disappointed. There is a side to take in this film but the story stays somewhat neutral.

The Riot Club is an exclusive hedonistic drinking club in Oxford University with a long tradition. The group needs two new members to complete the ten minimum. Alistair Ryle and Miles Richards are new students with connections. Miles starts a relationship with Lauren from the working class. Right winger Alistair gets mugged and then recruited into the group. Harry Villiers is an older member whose ancestor was the original Lord Riot. James Leighton-Masters is the group's president. Hugo Fraser-Tyrwhitt is Miles' former classmate. They weren't close but Hugo remembers Miles. Their annual dinner at a country restaurant causes mounting rowdiness and chaos.

These are entitled rich brats. None of them are that compelling as individual characters. Most of them are too interchangeable. Their hi-jinx are annoying and not particularly imaginative. It's a lot of drinking and destruction. Throwing in Natalie Dormer as a hooker does help. There is boring boorish talk and a couple of interesting moments. The scene with Lauren in the restaurant is wrong. It's excusable that Miles is drunk but Lauren is too slow on the uptick. Even then, Miles can't be that weak-minded. It makes no sense that he doesn't leave to chase after Lauren other than for the sake of the story. There are a few clunky moments. It's unbelievable that the guys don't do more than a night in the drunk tank. They walk out with their clothes which should be taken as evidence. The only way to make it all work is if the cops are bought off right away. The possibility is there but it's not sharp enough.

Or is it? Well it is a big feast of some sorts. And the movie really dives into human nature and how low some will sink. It's also the group mentality and how some will feel superior to others. There are so many comments about the homo sapiens and how he will behave under certain circumstances, that it's tough to actually like any of the characters depicted.

Even if you think they're fun at certain points, when the spiral starts spinning and everything gets out of control ... that's where most will lose patience. Maybe even with the movie, although it does a perfect job of showing us exactly that ... with all the consequences or not ... A tough movie to watch with just a little touch of graphic violence