Don’t be too disheartened by the title, which to be brutally honest is rather simplistic, for a movie that is anything but simplistic. Now before you go all Inception and freak out, Man on a Ledge isn’t an overly complicated movie, but on occasion it does demand your attention.
Convicted felon Nick Cassidy goes on the run, after his fathers funeral and decides to book into the Roosevelt hotel for some room service. Whether he’s unhappy with the lobster or not, I’ll never know, but Cassidy (Sam Worthington) decides to climb out the window, and become the Man on a Ledge. When one hangs precariously on the ledge of a building in New York City, people tend to notice, so within minutes half of the NYPD show up with megaphones, coffee and a giant bouncy castle. Cassidy demands to speak to a specific negotiator, Lydia Mercer (Elizabeth Banks) who eventually turns up and she attempts to get the man off the ledge. Cassidy protests his innocence for a crime he claims he didn’t commit, which involved the theft of a $40 million diamond from David Englander (Ed Harris). While Mercer is trying to talk him down, Cassidy has got his brother (Jamie Bell) and his girlfriend to break into Englander’s building and steal the real diamond, trying to prove Cassidy’s innocence.
The first thing that hits you with Man on a Ledge is the camera work. For the bulk of the movie, Sam Worthington is on a ledge and the camera shots are quite impressive adding to the dizzying tension that the movie attempts to build. And build it, it does, but only in sporadic amounts. By the time the next piece of “tension” comes your way, you may have already lost the previous jolt of tension you got. Because it builds, fizzles, builds, fizzles. That’s not an entirely bad thing, but it would have been nice to keep the tension consistent. Worthington is sporting the worst hairdo since Tom Hanks in The Da Vinci code, and while his performance is convincing, he doesn’t look like he's breaking much of a sweat. But credit where it’s due. The dude has got some balls on him. Strapped in or not, Safety harness or not, it takes a fair set of grapefruits to step foot onto a ledge, particularly when it’s a bunch of stories high above Manhattan. Ed Harris does his thing, and while his role is relatively small he plays the part of a the super rich bad guy very well. Elizabeth Banks on the other hand, while putting in a decent performance, isn’t convincing in her role at all, and doesn’t look the part. I really like Banks, but she’s miscast here in my book. The real stand out though, is Jamie Bell, who plays Joey Cassidy. Bell has matured and is rocking a great presence on screen and is incredibly watchable and likeable, and if anything his performance here, will really cement his Hollywood career over the next few years.
For a movie that is set primarily on a ledge, it does move at quite a pace and while the tension fizzles on a regular basis, it does hold together and keeps your interest. There’s enough twists here to keep you on your toes and while some are a little predictable, a few of them you won’t see coming for love nor money.
Besides the fact that the last few minutes will have you scratching your head and wondering about the ending, Man on a Ledge isn’t the worse piece of entertainment you’ll see this year. It’s certainly worth a viewing, but if you miss it on the big screen, I wouldn’t be getting too upset.
