Review of The Loft (2014) by Peter B — 17 Jun 2015

A mildly suspenseful crime-thriller, The Loft is the latest example that very often Hollywood adaptation of wonderful European or Asian productions are not even half as good as the original movies. Initially intriguing and aspiring to be a slick and filled with twists thriller, this is a predictable crime drama that never really succeeds to establish connection between its cast and the audience. With constantly decreasing levels of plausibility, The Loft keeps a relatively watchable level of mediocrity that makes it a poor and completely forgettable delivery.

A group of successful married men secretly buys a luxurious loft which they share for their sex orgies, prostitutes or lovers. One morning a dead body of a woman is found in the loft and the five friends have. In the beginning the mystery is definitely an appealing one. By going forth-and-back in the lives of the five friends, the director Erik Van Looy builds-up the setting for multiple twists which are to take place. The problem, however, is that the more he delves deeper in the lives, the least likeable they become to the audience. Add up the fact that one could extremely easily guess who is in the center of the final twist and all other mid-story twists would seem pointless and disappointing once when you reach the final credits.

It is really very hard to point out the specific reasons while the Americanized version of The Loft is so much worse than the original. I would probably consider the blend of poor casting, lazy story-telling and disappointing conclusion as the main reason for the poor final results. Yet, if you have not seen the original delivery of Erik Van Looy (and its extremely high standard of film-making and story-telling) and if you lower your initial expectations to the level of willing to waste 90 minutes for something mediocre, then you might actually consider The Loft even a passable crime-thriller.