‘The film follows two first year students amongst the privileged elite of Oxford University, determined to join the infamous Riot Club, where reputations can be made or destroyed over the course of a single evening.’
Based on Laura Wade’s 2010 sellout play ‘Posh’, The Riot Club is a thrill ride. It is inspired by the infamous Bullingdon Club within Oxford, boasting former members such as David Cameron, George Osborne and Boris Johnson to name but a few. To say I enjoyed it wouldn’t sit quite right with me, as ‘enjoy’ isn’t the word that springs to mind due to its dark and twisted political themes. It is, however, brilliant. A beautiful cast in a beautiful setting, Lone Scherfig, director of One Day and An Education, had a lot to live up to from her previous successes. And she did not disappoint.
Having read the play, I knew the concept before heading into the cinema. But what amazed me was how successfully they expanded the world and the characters that Wade had already created for the stage. Whilst the play takes place solely in the one room of The Bull’s Inn over the course of one night, the film steps out into the world of Oxford and delves further into the characters’ personalities, showing their interaction with family members and other students, without making the mistake of ‘info-dump’- that is to say, hurling too much information at the viewers.
It is a seductive ride, and you find yourself inexplicably drawn to these ten elite, dashing and filthy rich gentlemen as the film opens- and thank heavens you do. They pull you in with their good grammar, great voices and suave attitudes.
They could rule the world, and you would let them.
Lead by Max Irons, Douglas Booth and Sam Clafin, the boys show us a world that we could only begin to fathom. A particularly remarkable scene that stays with me is one of the boys posting the keys to his brand new Aston Martin through the letter box of a charity shop after another drunkenly hurls all over the windshield. Simple as.
Whilst the first half of the scene boasts well written anecdotes and antics, including some good old favourites from the play- ‘How do you make an Eton mess? Tell him he only got into Bristol!’– the second half takes a rather dark turn. You can feel the atmosphere change the moment the boys arrive, dressed up to the nines, at the gastropub where they intend to spend the evening. The other customers join the audience to watch on with wide eyes as the club is led to their own private room, the door shut firmly behind them.
And then it begins. The madness, the chaos and the destruction. The characters’ reveal their true identities within this room, Sam Clafin stealing the scenes with his narcissistic, elitist views on the world, his sneer and arrogance clear from the moment he sits down. Hell, as soon as he appears on screen you just know ‘I’m going to love hating this guy’, but only when you are in the dining room do you realize just how much.
Whilst the cast in predominantly male based, the crew is mainly women, led by Lone Scherfig. How refreshing to know. Laura Wade wrote the screen play, something I love to hear when discovering an adaption is being made. Who better to write the script than the woman who had the original idea? Exactly.
The three female characters that do grace the screen are a prostitute, a waitress and a fellow student at Oxford. But boy, do they hold their own. Natalie Dormer, Jessica Brown Findlay and Holliday Granger are three actors known for their portrayal of strong smart women, and their characters in The Riot Club were no different. Wade does a wonderful job of making them well rounded and three dimensional, even if they only do appear in a few handful of scenes.
Amidst the debauchery and scandal lies a truly good tale that had me on the edge of my seat. I was torn between shock, horror and humour throughout, which turned out to be a surprisingly good mixture.
A definite recommendation to those wondering what to see next.
8/10
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