“MAN ON A LEDGE”
Screenplay Written by Pablo Fenjves
Directed by Asger Leth
½ * (one half of one star)
Whoooo boy!!! I’m going to try and write this review for you between laughing fits.
How I wish that I could tell you that Director Asger Leth’s “Man On A Ledge” is a propulsive, razor sharp, outlandishly exciting, furiously paced thrill ride filled from beginning to end with a collective of compelling characters and action sequences so extraordinary that you will forget to breathe as you are so enthralled. Unfortunately, what I do have to tell you is actually that “Man On A Ledge” is the true definition of a cinematic howler!!
Dear readers, if this film were a comedy, my star rating would be decidedly much higher than it is simply because I laughed so hard throughout this absolutely boneheaded film and I was undeniably entertained. But, this film is not a comedy. “Man On A Ledge” is a film attempting to exist as an action thriller, and even more laughable is that this film actually wants to align itself with no less than Spike Lee’s “Inside Man” (2006) and mostly, Sidney Lumet’s classic “Dog Day Afternoon” (1975), as it is a crime caper set within the characters, color and culture of New York City. The fact that a movie this preposterous, this flabbergasting, this ridiculous even thinks it could be in the company of either of those movies would truly send Lee into a knee slapping, fall off of the couch, tears streaming down the face explosion and if there is a cinematic afterlife, Lumet would be doing the same. “Man On A Ledge” is truly, truly awful!
I guess I now have to describe the plot, such as it is. Sam Worthington stars as Nick Cassady, a former police officer and escaped convict, who checks himself into the Roosevelt Hotel under an assumed name, eats supper, scrawls a note, and then exits the window to stand upon the ledge, apparently ready to commit suicide. But oh no, Nick has no death wish. He is in fact plotting revenge against cold fish businessman David Englander (a slumming Ed Harris), who framed him for the theft of a $40 million dollar diamond. Nick’s plan is to distract the growing crowd on the streets of
Unbeknownst to Officer Mercer, the police force, the television news crew and the crowd below, Nick’s brother Joey (Jamie Bell) and his saucy girlfriend Angie (Genesis Rodriguez) are breaking into Englander’s offices and vault with the hopes of finding the diamond, thus clearing Nick’s good name and revealing the truth about Englander.
Ok…to be fair, I would suppose that there is nothing really wrong with this plot on the surface. In fact, I would offer that conceptually, the film is not terribly far removed from F. Gary Gray’s superior thriller “The Negotiator” (1998). Yet, in reality, the film is indeed a very close cousin to Joel Schumacher’s idiotic “Phone Booth” (2003), a would-be nail biter that piled one clumsy move onto another until the entire movie crashed to the ground like the rapidly descending pieces of a Jenga game.
In my previous review of the hugely disappointing “Safe House,” I expressed how that film was nothing more than another Hollywood assembly line feature that was an uninspired jumble of “stock characters, clichéd dialogue, unimaginative action sequences and beyond obvious villains and duplicities.” I only wish that “Man On A Ledge” were just that bad. This movie is much worse, so much so that it makes “Safe House” look like a Shakespearian masterpiece.
How many ways did this film go wrong you ask? Well, allow me to count the ways. In addition to the car chases and shoot outs that virtually make no narrative sense whatsoever, and the GIANT SIZED cliché of Banks’ character seeking redemption for a past tragedy, I have to really poke holes through this movie by mentioning Sam Worthington.
While he struck me as being numbingly bland in James Cameron’s “Avatar” (2009), I did not want to close the acting book on him prematurely, especially as most of the performances in that film were subpar. Well, after viewing “Man On A Ledge,” my early suspicions considering his questionable talent were sadly proven correct. Never did he convince me of his predicament, or that he was standing upon that ledge, let alone fighting for his life, freedom and innocence. It certainly didn’t help that his extremely shaky American accent was punctured, seemingly through every other word, by his natural Australian accent.
Additionally, the so-called frisky, romantic banter between Jamie Bell and Genesis Rodriguez (whose “performance” functions as eye candy to the point that I think that even Megan Fox would turn down this role) is extremely painful and story halting as they elicit no chemistry whatsoever. And besides, if these two clowns were racing against time to break into Ed Harris’ office and secret vaults, plus knowing all the while that Worthington is just hanging around on some high rise ledge for them to complete their task, you would think they would just focus on the business at hand.
By the time they do get to the business at hand,
Then there’s Ed Harris, obviously making a paycheck movie, who looks like he was not even on the set for more than a week at most, and I think that I am being generous. And Lord help me, who’s bright idea was it to cast WASPY Kyra Sedgwick as Suzie Morales, who is...brace yourselves… a LATINA newscaster!!! When I heard Sedgwick announce herself with an outrageously exaggerated pronunciation of her name as “Suzie Morrrrrraaalllllles!!,” I damn near fell onto the floor!!!
The confounding stupidity of “Man On A Ledge” mounts itself higher and higher, making for a film that unintentionally flies off the rails the longer it remains on screen. Sometimes those kinds of movies are very enjoyable. So enjoyable where they almost elevate themselves into kitschy, guilty pleasures. But, no, “Man On A Ledge” is a complete time-waster for you and I think so as no to waste any more time thinking about this movie, I’ll draw this review to a close.
“Man On A Ledge” has easily earned a spot as one of 2012’s worst movies.
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