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The Loft (2015) |
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.
Director:
Erik Van LooyWriters:
Bart De Pauw (based upon the film written by), Wesley Strick (screenplay)Stars:
Karl Urban, James Marsden, Wentworth Miller |Storyline
The architect Vincent Stevens; the psychiatrist Chris Vanowen; the real estate agents Luke Seacord and Marty Landry; and Chris' half-brother Philip Trauner are married and best friends. Vincent proposes his friends to share a wonderful penthouse loft in a brand new building designed by him to become their rendezvous instead of using their credit cards for love affairs and one night stands in hotels. When they discover the body of a beautiful woman cuffed on the bed in the loft, they have argument to find who is the responsible and secrets are disclosed affecting their friendship.Written by Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
User Reviews
Posted in: Romance Movie
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.