The Loft

All Good Things Come in Threes! Following the 2008 original from Belgium and the 2010 Dutch remake, the U.S. adaptation of The Loft is the third version of director Erik van Looy's thriller to hit our theaters. This is the second time van Looy has directed the film. But he already sat in the director's chair for the injured filmmaker Antoinette Beumer for a few days during the Dutch version. So directing this material should have become something almost routine for him. And that's exactly how the US remake comes across: like a routine but somewhat dispassionate thriller with some good moments of suspense.

The story didn't change in any of the three versions: It was supposed to be the perfect retreat for five married friends: a loft in a luxury condominium complex where the men can do everything their wives better not know about. But when one day they find a badly battered woman's body in the loft, the fun comes to an end. Mutual suspicions and murderous intrigues ensure that the situation soon threatens to escalate.

With the thriller The Alzheimer Case, director Erik van Looy was able to land a small surprise hit at various festivals in 2003. With the follow-up Loft, the director had proven that he really knows his craft. And that can still be clearly felt in the US version. With a convoluted narrative that keeps jumping back and forth between the present and various moments in the past, van Looy crafts an elegantly filmed puzzle that keeps the viewer riveted until the very end. Admittedly, there are one or two hangs and some plot twists seem a bit arbitrary, at least at first glance. But in the end, The Loft proves to be a first-class thriller that manages to surprise its viewers more than once - provided, of course, that you haven't seen either of the other two versions. For the US version, apart from a few minor differences and a slightly more chaste treatment of sex and nudity, is a 1:1 remake of the Belgian original.

While the third version of the story still has everything a good thriller needs: an exciting story, a surprising resolution, tingling eroticism and a classy look. The ensemble of actors around Karl Urban (Lord of the Rings) and James Marsden (X-Men) is also well chosen. And yet, the film lacks edges and corners that the original still had. The US version seems too slick and the direction lacks any passion. The whole thing just seems like an interchangeable commissioned work that was delivered solidly in terms of craftsmanship, but just a bit soullessly. Does that make The Loft a bad movie? No, because the story is still thrilling, the look is atmospheric and the actors are convincing, too. Only those who can make the direct comparison will really be bothered by the weaknesses. Because otherwise, this third rehash still offers enough good thriller entertainment. But who has the choice between the three existing variants, should perhaps better reach for the original. Therefore: a thrilling story in a somewhat too routine package, therefore only with small restrictions worth seeing!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp