Man On A Ledge (2012)

Man On a Ledge (2012)

5/10

Starring:
Sam Worthington
Elizabeth Banks
Anthony Mackie

Directed by: Asger Leth

Contains Spoilers

I had two urges this month: watch Man on a Ledge and Journey 2: The Mysterious Island. One down, and here we go...

Man on a Ledge wasn’t a good movie to be honest. The ending was unrealistically manageable, which will either leave you smiling or make you want to puke, especially the scene of the homeless man who liked Nick well enough to tackle a police officer on his behalf.

The story took a while to find its footing, but after about 40 minutes of a poor start and bad pacing, you kind of get a feel for how the movie is going to be.

The plot goes: Nick (Sam Worthington) broke out of prison with the aid of his brother, then causes a scene in a building next to the one his brother was going to help him rob. This scene (caused by Nick) is to keep the crowd and police busy while the robbery takes place nearby.

Eventually, when the police show up, Nick claims to be wrongfully imprisoned and insists he is innocent of the crime he was convicted for, and intends to prove it... by standing on a ledge. Seriously! You can tell the writers weren’t even trying. The movie has no suspense, no twist. It’s just a plain story that keeps trodding along till it ends.

Directed by little-known director Asger Leth, who I believe may have skipped a class in movie school called "WHY THINGS HAPPEN 101." Here I am watching a movie about a man trying to kill himself, then I see cops who I believed to be dirty cops chase this guy off the ledge into the building, and actually try to take him out, then later I see it is all staged, for a robbery and still I am thinking, why? Because I can see how this would not happen or easily fall apart in a real world, so why write it in a movie?

The movie goes on and later you find out they weren’t dirty cops at all?

One thing I’ve learned about movies is that a good cast usually helps make a good movie (I say usually because there are notable exceptions—Gigli). Man on a Ledge boasts Anthony Mackie, who I feel is just wasting his talent. His mediocre performance was only partially overshadowed by Elizabeth Banks. Sam Worthington, who played Nick, is no better in the lead role. You’d think the exposure from Avatar would have helped.

The cinematography is okay. Shots of Sam’s life on the ledge must have been some work for the camera crew, work I wish they had done better. According to Sam, in an interview on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, he actually had to act on a skyscraper standing on a ledge.

Too bad, because I’m giving this movie a 5, and tag it as not worth seeing.