Man on a Ledge
Man on a Ledge tells the story of . . . a man on a ledge. The very notion that the main character spends almost the entire movie standing on the ledge is somewhat reminiscent of the 2002 film Phone Booth. Both films share the seeming paradox of being action/thrillers where the protagonist remains in one (not very exciting) place for most of the movie. Man on a Ledge tells the story of a an escaped felon who steps out of his hotel window in what appears to be a looming suicide attempt. In reality he is merely serving as a distraction to take the focus off an effort to his supposed innocence. It stars Sam Worthington, Elizabeth Banks, and Ed Harris and is directed by the vitually unknown Asger Leth.
This film serves as an interesting point in Sam Worthington’s career. While he’s definitely reached big name status from starring in Avatar, Terminator Salvation, and the Clash of the Titans franchise, these were all the type of films that would be big regardless of who was in them. He definitely did well in all of them, but they just weren’t the type of movies that have to be made good by whomever is acting in it. Man on a Ledge is a different animal. It’s not part of a major franchise. He’s not flanked onscreen by other A-listers. There is no prestigious director attached to the film. It is precisely the type of role where the actors performance can have a big impact on the film’s success.
The good news is that Sam Worthington’s performance was very good. I did find it a touch interesting to see him in prison garb as a convicted felon early in the movie as it just seemed very similar to the beginning of Terminator Salvation. The bad news is that much of the rest of the movie was a number of notches below good. The main problem is that while the film is entertaining, it is not serious. The negotiator played by Elizabeth Banks is a pretty one dimensional character. It’s not that Elizabeth Banks did a poor job, there just wasn’t much for her to do. The business tycoon Ed Harris played turned out even worse. We only get small glimpses of the character and unfortunately they only depict a stereotyped caricature.
The rest of the major roles including Worthington’s brother, brother’s girlfriend, and former police partner all exemplify the non-seriousness everything. It is alluded to that the brother has never amounted to much other than petty crime and his girlfriend plays the ditzy eye candy yet somehow the pair manage to pull off a Mission Impossible style heist of grand proportions. It would almost be funny if it was meant to be funny but you are just left absolutely puzzled how these petty criminals can somehow magically accomplish these amazing feats. On the other hand, Worthington’s former police partner just seems to be highly erratic and reckless.
The lowest points would be the emphasis on creating artificial excitement. Yes, the man is on a ledge. No, that does not mean the audience is going to get all worked up every time he ‘almost’ falls off. He’s not going to fall off. We know this. No matter how good (or bad) you are at suspending our reality, we still know we are watching a movie and that the movie would end pretty quickly if the man on the ledge fell off. With that being said, Man on a Ledge was entertaining to watch and moderately interesting to see how things played out even though you will already know what the end result will be long before it comes.
