Susan Granger’s review of “Man on a Ledge” (Summit Entertainment)
When a recently escaped prisoner, wrongly convicted ex-cop Nick Cassidy (Sam Worthington) checks into Manhattan’s Roosevelt Hotel, he’s on a mission. After devouring a lobster lunch with champagne from room service, he opens the window and climbs out on the ledge, threatening to jump and attracting a gawking crowd. But is he really suicidal?
That’s the question bothering disgraced NYPD negotiator Lydia Mercer (Elizabeth Banks), her cynical cohort Jack Dougherty (Edward Burns), along with Nick’s former partner Mike Ackerman (Anthony Mackie) and jaded TV reporter Suzy Morales (Kyra Sedgwick, rolling her ‘r’s’ with obvious glee), who wants to exploit the stand-off as long as possible.
What’s his relationship with overtly villainous real estate tycoon David Englander(Ed Harris), whose offices are nearby? And will his younger brother Joey (Jamie Bell) and his Hispanic girlfriend, Angie (Genesis Rodridguez) be able to pull off a stealthy, “Mission Impossible”-like $40 million diamond heist that’s fraught with comic danger from heat sensors and security alarms? Obviously, as the plot unravels, things are not what they seem to be but the conclusion is utterly predictable.
Pablo F. Fenjves’ contrived, cliché-riddled screenplay is improbable and Asger Leth‘s dour direction is predicated on fear of heights (a.k.a. acrophobia) and vertigo. If the setup sounds familiar, perhaps you saw last year’s “The Ledge,” which had a somewhat similar premise. Also, stoic Sam Worthington (“Avatar,” “Terminator Salvation,” “Clash of the Titans”) is Australian and his thick accent keeps slipping into his dialogue which further breaks believability.
One can’t really blame Worthington too much, though, because instead of battling CGI monsters and simulating derring-do on a green screen, he was actually perched some 200 feet above 45th street in New York City, balancing on a concrete slab. “I’d be a fool to say I wasn’t scared,” he’s told interviewers. “It was one of those things where you read the script but you forget that you actually have to do it.”
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Man on a Ledge” is a far-fetched 4, twisting the fugitive-on-the-run formula.
