Plot
Five married guys conspire to secretly share a penthouse loft in the city--a place where they can carry out hidden affairs and indulge in their deepest fantasies. But the fantasy becomes a nightmare when they discover the dead body of an unknown woman in the loft, and they realize one of the group must be involved.
Release Year: 2014
Rating: 7.2/10 (1,229 voted)
Critic's Score: /100
Director: Erik Van Looy
Stars: Karl Urban, James Marsden, Wentworth Miller
Storyline
Five married guys conspire to secretly share a penthouse loft in the city--a place where they can carry out hidden affairs and indulge in their deepest fantasies. But the fantasy becomes a nightmare when they discover the dead body of an unknown woman in the loft, and they realize one of the group must be involved.
Writers: Bart De Pauw, Wesley Strick
Cast: Karl Urban -
Vincent Stevens
James Marsden -
Chris Vanowen
Wentworth Miller -
Luke Seacord
Eric Stonestreet -
Marty Landry
Matthias Schoenaerts -
Philip Trauner
Isabel Lucas -
Sarah Deakins
Rachael Taylor -
Anne Morris
Rhona Mitra -
Allison Vanowen
Valerie Cruz -
Barbara Stevens
Kali Rocha -
Mimi Landry
Elaine Cassidy -
Ellie Seacord
Margarita Levieva -
Vicky Fry
Kristin Lehman -
Detective Huggins
Robert Wisdom -
Detective Cohagan
Ric Reitz -
Joel Kotkin
Taglines:
Five friends. Five keys. One Loft...and a secret that will change their lives forever!
Trivia:
Miller and Wisdom were in the FX series Prison Break together. See more »
User Review
Author:
Rating: 7/10
Having seen the original movie 'Loft' by Erik Van Looy
(http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0926762/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1), I was hoping
for a fresh take. But a fresh take is obviously not why they hired the
same Van Looy to direct this version. This is essentially the same
movie, just without subtitles.
In short, the building blocks of 'The Loft' are a set of plot twists.
They are mostly silly, suffering from a few red herrings that hurt the
story's credibility, but it's still entertaining to watch them unfold.
Largely because the movie flows well for the most part, with only a few
dull moments in the first half.
Although I preferred the exterior design of the original loft, the
overall cinematography of 'The Loft' feels a little warmer and more
comfortable. Only a little though, because the characters in it are
stone cold. James Marsden is the warmest character in the frame, but
like everybody else he doesn't get enough to work with to make for a
convincing character that the audience can identify with. The
characters are The Loft's biggest flaw (as they were in the original),
which is especially disappointing since making you care about
characters has often been a strong and successful focus in Bart de
Pauw's earlier scripts. There are just too many of them, and as a
consequence most of the dialog in the back story scenes is expositional
and feels awkward. There's never an opportunity for development. The
characters are just there to lead you from one twist to the next.
The overall acting suffers as a result. Strangely I felt that Rhona
Mitra, with barely any screen time, delivers one of the better
performances, with obvious anger below her coldness, yet just enough
restrain. Wentworth Miller does what he does best. He doesn't seem to
care much, but still feels like a good fit, even with the little
information we get for his character. Matthias Schoenaerts' presence is
undeniable. But as a guy who seems to be on edge pretty much all the
time, his marriage seems plainly unlikely, and his past couldn't be
revealed more clumsily. Still, he's a welcome contrast to the otherwise
held back main cast. It's a pity that he was clearly suffering from
sickness or fatigue in a few scenes, where it's blatantly obvious how
much he had to strain his voice. It's arguably suiting his character,
but it's still distracting.
The concept of this story lends itself to a much darker movie, and this
just feels like a missed opportunity. I can't help but wonder how this
would've worked as a film noir. You have five characters that could
easily be despicable and instantly more interesting, and the women
couldn't be more fatale. Of course, film noir doesn't sell anymore, so
instead we get a bright and shiny thriller that doesn't thrill, that
keeps you guessing, but doesn't make you ask questions. It deals with
edgy themes, but it barely skims them and focuses on polish instead.
7/10. It's definitely an enjoyable watch, but only for people who're
into the whole whodunit thing. Not if you're looking for anything more.
It's successful at what it is and doesn't pretend to be anything else,
but I can't help but sense the potential for something more.
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