The Loft is a 2014 erotic mystery film directed by Erik Van Looy, starring Karl Urban, James Marsden, Wentworth Miller, Eric Stonestreet, and Matthias Schoenaerts.  Serving as a remake of the 2008 Loft and based on the novel of the same name written by Erik Van Looy, the film follows five married men who share ownership of an upmarket loft, which they use to discreetly meet their respective mistresses. However, when the body of a murdered woman is found in that loft, the men begin to suspect each other.

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Plot:

Honestly, this is a pretty slow paced movie and of course, slow paced movies have a way of being great thrillers or sucky ones. This happens to be one of those movies that manages to pull it off but with varying degrees of success. The story is very complex, especially as it explores the character’s various perspectives and how they interact and converge, which I have to commend the writing for. I guess you can say there’s some character development which helps to season the story. The Who-Done-It scenario makes the story that much more engaging as viewers try to figure out the culprit. The film did come to a satisfying conclusion which I think worked. All in all, it wasn’t a bad story. (3 out of 5)

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Characters:

The problem with the movie are the main characters which the main cast consist of Vincent Stevens (Urban), Luke Seacord (Miller), Chris Vanowen (Marsden), Marty Landry (Stonestreet), and Philip Williams (Schoenaerts). Yes, they’re charming, cool, suave; however, they are total dicks.  There are moments of levity, but for the most part they’re unlikable, cheating on their wives without regard especially considering how nice their wives are.  Even when the men decide to set up Vincent, it shows the high level of distrust and disloyalty among the group. It’s not that they’re badly written but they’re just a bunch of assholes. (3 out of 5)

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Cast:

I have to admit that I really enjoyed the performances all around. The casting was fucking awesome including Karl Urban, James Marsden, Wentworth Miller, Eric Stonestreet, and Matthias Schoenaerts. Really enjoyed Urban’s performance, his character was charismatic and suave, easily taking the spotlight. I’ve never really liked Miller as an actor but honestly he isn’t bad. I enjoyed what brought. Supporting cast includes Valerie Cruz, Elaine Cassidy, Rhona Mitra, Madison Burge, Rachael Taylor, Kali Rocha, Margarita Levieva, and Isabel Lucas. With a cast like this there’s definitely quality in the performances and it shows. (4 out of 5).

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Visuals:

By measure of quality, this film does have a good production value behind it. The overall look of the movie is really good and the locations are beautiful to look at. I love the look of the “high” life that’s presented. (3 out of 5)

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Score:

As far as music goes it’s decent. I don’t know much about John Frizzell’s work but he does a good enough for the movie. (3 out of 5)

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Writing:

I didn’t mind the writing nor the direction and I thought Erik Van Looy did a good job. The story has a great sense of direction, maintaining a great amount of suspense especially with the mounting tension between the characters.  The script is really well-written with a slow pace and good storytelling and editing which manages to piece together rather well. I haven’t personally read the book that the movie was based upon so I can’t compare which is better, but I will say that it’s a nice thriller. (3 out of 5)

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The Verdict:

In the end, The Loft is one of those films that’s good but isn’t the most memorable. It has an interesting story with some decent characters but aside from the cast and performances, there’s nothing really there to make this movie standout. With that being said, I really enjoyed the movie for its acting, writing, and direction. The Loft gets 3 out of 5.