The Loft (2015) Review!!

Synopsis – 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.

My Take – It has been a while since I have witnessed an really intriguing murder mystery! A movie that could keep me interested for the entire duration! This American version of the 2008 Dutch-Belgian film of the same title (the highest grossing Flemish film in history) and with the same director (Erik Van Looy) at the helm is luckily refreshing and intriguing and makes you wonder what the hell you would do in that situation. The movie makes you realize that how quickly a good friendship can go wrong, and is spot on when trying to visualize this. The film follows married up-and-coming architect Vincent Stevens (Karl Urban), who has reserved a prime loft apartment as a safe zone for the extramarital activities of himself & is ready to share it with his four other married friends – the quiet and indecipherable Luke (Wentworth Miller), the lusty alcoholic and sometime comic relief Marty (Eric Stonestreet), the unhappy but smart and sometimes honorable Chris (James Marsden) and Chris’ volatile half-brother Philip (Matthias Schoenaerts, who is reprising his role from the 2008 version).

After about a year of unencumbered sexual adventures, Luke comes up to the loft one morning to restock the bar and he sees the naked body of a woman lying lifeless on her stomach, with one of her wrists slashed and the other handcuffed to the bed. Luke calls his partners in deception to the loft. When they all arrive, there are accusations and recriminations aplenty. There are only five keys to the loft and only these five guys know the door’s security code, so the assumption is that one of them must be responsible for the horror scene on the far end of the loft. As the conversation and the action progresses in the loft that morning, the background of the story is told through flashbacks and the results through flash-forwards of the interrogation of the five men at the police station. As the story unfolds, as we would want in any good thriller, the surprise reveals are filled with shock and twists. Yes! the film is a bit too sleazy at times, but director Erik Van Looy has made sure the film has very little substance, & gives us just enough to keep you interested and captivates you by making you ask yourself, just how ridiculous can this film get? The answer is very! But that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy it for what it is. The cast has very little to work with here in regards of a script but manage to pull off some decent performances considering the circumstances.

The real standout here is Schoenaerts who plays the volatile Philip, younger brother to Marsden’s Chris. While the rest of the cast seems to sleepwalk through roles each have played dozens of times, Schoenaerts’ performance seems to be the strongest and most passionate. He makes for a very electrifying watch whenever he’s on screen. Among the female leads – Isabel Lucas, Rachael Taylor & Rhona Mitra stand out! There may not be a lot to like in the characters, but there is a lot to like in this movie. One big reason for that is its unique combination of creative influences. The plot, the dialog and the camera work feel very Hitchcockian, as does the movie poster, which brings to mind the poster for 1958’s “Vertigo”. In fact, the entire film feels fresh and creative, thanks to its European roots, “The Loft” meets every expectation and even exceeds them. Overall, The Loft isn’t a bad way to spend the weekend, especially for those looking for an interesting thriller wont be disappointed.