Review: 'Man on a Ledge'

Film: Man on a Ledge
Director: Asger Leth
Cast: Sam Worthington, Elizabeth Banks, Anthony Mackie, Jamie Bell, Ed Harris
Rating: **

Nick Cassidy (Sam Worthington) is an ex-cop, who finds himself in a correctional facility for stealing business tycoon David Englander’s (Ed Harris) diamond. The ex-cop is now faced with the task of proving his innocence, redeeming his honour. Mind you, this one’s supposed to be a thriller.

For this, he breaks prison and makes his way straight to the ledge of Hotel Roosevelt, adjacent to the Englander’s headquarters.

Threatening to jump, Nick manages a decent crowd that cheers him on in this seemingly ridiculous act.

Mind you, this one’s supposed to be a thriller.

Fifteen minutes into the film and you know where this is heading. But the twist comes when Nick asks for police psychologist Lydia Mercer (Elizabeth Banks) to negotiate the suicide bid. Things suddenly start looking upbeat until the camera sees Mercer’s face, deadpan, unenthusiastic and sleep-inducing. You could still give her the benefit of doubt considering the stress brought about by the suicide of an ex-cop who she failed to effectively negotiate with.

Nick, he says, needs Mercer’s “trust”, begging her “don’t give up on me”. Cheesy, clammy. Interestingly, at the same time, Nick’s brother Joey (Jamie Bell) and his apparently dumb girlfriend Angie are drilling holes into walls, scaling down insides of elevators, freezing heat sensors attempting to ‘steal’ the diamond which wasn’t stolen initially by Nick. How Nick knows about it, we don’t know.

With all that promise Worthington showed in Avatar, being the man on the ledge is sheer disappointment. And with juvenile dialogue like “Today is the day everything changes, one way or another”, you are convinced writer Pablo Fenjves is a ten-year-old tantrum-throwing child. Banks makes for an unimpressive cop, barring the few chuckle-worthy scenes with a fellow cop.

The twists are tiresome, uninspiring but not entirely painful.

Towards the fag end, it almost trips into Bollywood territory. An old bloke grabs all your attention when he pounces on a policeman to facilitate hero Nick’s final endeavour to recover the diamond. Nick’s audience breaks into an applause.
 
Man on a Ledge does not thrill you enough even for 15 minutes of its 100-minute runtime. For thrills, try reverse rapelling.