The Riot Club

source: The Riot Club

The film is glamorous because it is taking place at Oxford University, among the aristocracy attending there, business, political and real nobility all mixed in one culture, with some representatives of some foreign top society, in this case the one foreign student seems to be Greek. But that is not the point. Just for that very reason we could expect some nobility and some common sense. But these young men, just under or above twenty years of age, are rich and they show it, spoilt and they stink like it in every single gesture of theirs, rotten but not at all like the famous Johnny Rotten who was against the establishment with all his guns, sexual or not. Here they are rotten because they turn their belonging to the top establishment into the most disgusting condescending rejection of all the others accused of being "the poor." In other words these young men are plainly filthy. These four qualifying adjectives are the "subtitle" of the DVD but they are just right. Let's say this film is the most disgusting aristocratic remake of the famous film Clockwork Orange, but without having the excuse of being rejected, socially discriminated against, uneducated and bored to death by total inactivity, no jobs, no parents, no nothing anyone is supposed to have, including doctors if necessary. The only thing the older Clockwork Orange young men had was the police and prison. But in this film these young aristocratic people have absolutely everything they can dream of and they make it a weapon against hard working people and ordinary citizens because they want to have fun, and for them fun is over-drink, over-eat, insult people, make as much noise as possible, disturb everyone, destroy everything they can, etc. And do not forget their sexism because for them the game is not funny if there is not an escort girl to satisfy all their needs, of course under the belt in this case, for a few hundred pounds. But what makes this film particularly bizarre and hateful is that one culprit will pay for the ten culprits they are, one picked by the police on the presence of some DNA on the weapon used to nearly kill the publican whose pub was trashed by them. The moral lesson from the parents is that they have a good lawyer at their disposal and that everyone can make a mistake and they, the young people, are at college in order to learn how to adapt to any situation, including that basically criminal behavior and action. They, parents and children, are sexists, they are extreme segregationists against the poor, they are disrespectful of anything, sacred or not. And among these ten people one will be Prime Minister one day and all of them will be MPs or Lords (since some are from hereditary noble families carrying the position of Lord) or ministers, with maybe one or two who will prefer hiding away at Oxford university as dons overlooking the next generation of noble hooligans. The picture is absolutely sickening and unbearable. If you can survive watching such young people full of trash trashing the society that is providing them with more money they need and can use, you may then understand why we have to get rid of the House of Lords and of these universities who excuse nine culprits because their parents can provide a lot of money. Here the rot is not in the sons of this aristocracy but in the university institution and the social establishment that are behind. This society needs some good cleansing. Where is Hercules, by Jove? Dr Jacques COULARDEAU

It's hard to distinguish what's fact and what's fiction in The Riot Club. On one side secret societies will always have their debauchery and initiations, so a level of trouble-making's to be expected. On the other, TRC exaggerates the misbehavior of a notorious Oxford University group. It's a not so fine line between the two. One single dinner event escalates out of control, subjecting the divide between the rich and the working class. The Riot Club's an infuriating watch, with the majority of the club's members basking in their 'importance', looking down on those they believe to be beneath them. The performances are solid, especially from the club's newest members (Sam Claflin and Max Irons), but two thirds of this film is spent focusing on their petty squabbles than relatable facets.

REVIEW - THE RIOT CLUB I have watched many films in my life and many wash over me with no meaning except for a few like I Daniel Blake. This film is one of those very rare films that is truly disturbing. The difference between those who have and those who have not, the difference between those born into money and those who earn it. Horrible, disturbing but essential watching reinforcing the image of we look after our own. Are the characters in this film true? Do people actually act this way? I will never know and honestly never want to be in the position to find out. Rating 10 out of 10

Two Fresher undergraduates are recruited to join an exclusive dining society at Oxford known as 'The Riot Club' after an 18th. Century aristocrat who excelled in debauchery. The group set up a dinner in a local inn, become intoxicated with drink and cocaine and embark upon an evening of violence, abuse and physical assault. It's all entertaining stuff with a number of excellent performances and some memorable lines. But there is a nasty and unwarranted slant to it that left me uncomfortable and even angry at times. Essentially the film portrayed these modern British public schoolboys as arrogant, bigoted, snobbish and entirely unsympathetic with those born less fortuitously. Perhaps some old Etonians and Harrovians may well behave like this although I believe most do not. But in all my time at Dartmouth, Cambridge and beyond I have never known a single public schoolboy who would descend into the mindless vandalism and sickening thuggish violence upon a defenseless publican that this film portrays. In truth such disgusting behavior which nearly kills an innocent man is much more likely to erupt from a working class youth than any public school undergraduate at Oxford. The plot was therefore not only absurd but a vicious assault upon the upper classes designed to make the public applaud their demise and replacement by today's manufactured celebrities and Billionaire elite. The closing sequence which portrays a circle of corruption that protects these thugs had some justification - I am certain that such arrangements exist - but the beneficiaries are more likely to be the 'New Rich' than the Ancien classes as the film implies. It's a good film to watch but please take it with a pinch of salt and remember that British public schoolboys may well do lots of stupid pranks and get very drunk and even create some incidental damage but they do not go around smashing planks over the heads of unconscious old men for fun!

This was probably the worst movie I have ever seen. I actually had to join this website so I could warn people not to waste their time. The actors were good but the storyline was awful. It is really a movie about a bunch of children throwing their toys out their pram. It did have potential to be good but once it starts to get good it's all over. The scenes last way too long. They are in the restaurant for the majority of the movie and really the extensive detail in the restaurant in unnecessary. It is not a very deep plot either there is hardly any background on any of the characters and most of the time I was struggling to remember who was who as the characters were not clear. Don't waste your time!

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.

I went into the film with no background knowledge. The use of "Riot" in the title and the picture of obvious toffs gave me an inkling as to what would/could happen. I had already formed a UK version of Skulls in my head. Pre-credit(?) scenes that set the origins of the club were almost comical in their direction and I feared that might be the tone for the rest of the film. Thankfully not. But then again, it didn't really get much better. It is cliché ridden with one posh but decent guy and one posh but nasty guy, who hates nice guy, despite nice guy having been decent to nasty guy. zzzzzzzz. Nice guy appeals to working class northern girl, despite their being from different classes because he is so decent. But can it last? Surely not when he gets tempted by the Riot(ers?). She won't see the funny side of it (even if she didn't get involved in the actual event). After all, she didn't approve of the room trashing. In some ways it did make me think slightly. I thought it was interesting how it was only the "working class" who stood up to them (hooker, landlord's daughter, Lauren). Even the landlord, who firstly gave in to their demands, eventually stood up. And yet, the rich privileged Miles hasn't got the guts to stand up. Is it trying to say that the price of reputation/peer opinion far outweighs principles? Perhaps not, because it was only after the landlord's daughter pointed out that he had sold out, that he decided to stand up. Also, the power of the pack was emphasised. There were a number of the group who were such wet farts, that a simple punch would've felled them - Ryles as a key example. A sobbing wreck after the cashpoint hold up and then acting tough as nails when he's got the backing of the group behind him. And as for the pair that were chatting up Lauren in the pub in the early part of the film, a strong wind would've blown them away. The climax of the debauched behaviour was surely beyond realism? Not least because he could've (should've) died after that. And as for the "we stick together" at the end between Ryles and the MP Jeremy - was that honestly trying to tell us that they can cover up a prison record for assault? Finally, the way no-one speaks as if drunk despite having consumed vast quantities of alcohol and no-one wakes with a hangover the next day. My review may seem rambling. If it does, it is because I found the whole film to be rambling and pointless.

The decline of the middle class and the over-power of the rentier class is the big issue of our time. This movie gets nowhere near it. We are given no idea why these people are so privileged, the characters are simply not dominant (especially the president), and overall it feels like an intra-class conflict - the little people hating on each other - with the bad little people in fancy dress. At the least it had to deliver grotesqueries, but not a bit. Not even humour. Not even an insight on why the dominance is pleasurable. The sex theme is so prissy, and the climax is just a banal beating in a banal location. Then a really flat moral outcome. Another failure for British film making.

Not a very good film, the "riot group" were a bunch of geeky guys with a bit of cash.... They got drunk and smashed up a room.... this happens up and down the land every weekend to varying degrees... I could personally tell much better stories from the rugby tours I have been on and from university (Wales not Oxford).... The plot pathetically tried to make up some rich vs poor, money vs morality issue but it was so badly done it was cringing.... especially as their actions weren't overly different to most students, travellers on a gap year or sports teams when together drinking (except for the bit at the end) The whole film you wait for the action to happen and when it does it really wasn't worth waiting for...