Man on a Ledge

MOVIE DETAILS

Rating: 6.6 out of 10
Director: Asger Leth
Writer: Pablo F. Fenjves
Star: Sam Worthington, Elizabeth Banks, Jamie Bell
Genres: Action/Crime/Thriller
Release Date: January 27, 2012 (United States)

I am known to my readers as someone who does not like heights. I objected to Tom Cruise hanging on the walls of the world’s highest skyscraper in “Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol,” but only because he was doing it for real. With a movie like “Man on a Ledge,” however, I feel played with. The film bounces back and forth between two ridiculous plot lines and uses the man on the ledge as a way to create tension.

Okay. I’ve gone along with more than one absurd plot in my time, but what do you do when the guy on the ledge doesn’t take it seriously? If you’re standing on a 21st floor ledge in a wind, you take it very seriously, is what you do. True, he threatens to jump; if he fell off that would be consistent with his plan. But since we know he’s not serious, what’s this idiot thinking?

His name is Nick Cassidy (Sam Worthington). He was an ex-cop serving time in prison. Let out for one day under armed escort to attend his father’s funeral, he escapes from custody, jettisons his prison uniform, makes it into Manhattan, checks into a hotel, orders room service and climbs out on the ledge.

At this point we have a pretty good idea if we are experienced moviegoers that he isn’t going to jump anytime soonish because then the movie would be over, get it? No no no: We are going to get lots of shots looking directly straight down past his shoes’ toe caps at street level. Man oh man is he up high. A crowd quickly gathers around him below; traffic comes to a halt.

Meanwhile our interest flags during these passages meanwhile meanwhile meanwhile meanwhile David Englander (Ed Harris) prepares across the street atop another high-rise as a Trumpish master of real-estate-for-others universe to unveil his grandiose scheme for a new skyscraper. I’ve forgotten its name, so let’s call it the Englander Tower in honor of the Donald.

Now we cut between Nick Cassidy, David Englander and Joey (Jamie Bell) and Angie (Genesis Rodriguez), who I always think of as New Yorkers even though or maybe because early on they both emulate the new breed of female action heroine by squirming into skin-tight latex costumes that appear to incorporate push-up bras designed along lines that made the facade of the Sydney Opera House possible. Then they crawl through air shafts.

Down in the hotel room across from him, cop Jack Dougherty (Edward Burns) shows up to talk down the jumper; he is soon replaced by NYPD psychologist Lydia Mercer (Elizabeth Banks). Down below, per formula, surging crowd chants jump! jump! while hoping to film death on their iPhones and cash in via “Eyewitness News.” TV news reporter Suzie Morales (Kyra Sedgwick) breathlessly covers story; her station’s NewsChopper helpfully hovers so close to ledge that downdraft threatens to blow Nick into a thousand YouTube postings.

How much can I let on? I could get into linking up the two sides of the street. Let’s just say that it has something to do with a heist for the biggest diamond in the world. Is that why Nick is supposed to make a scene and cause traffic? Yes, and fake tripping so nobody hears an explosion and all that.

But wait. If you ask me, this master plan seems a little too reliant on (1) Nick getting out for the funeral, (2) slipping away from two armed guards, (3) making it into Manhattan unharmed, (4) checking into a hotel room on the right side of the right floor and (5) not falling off the ledge too soon which would kill him as well as screw up the plan. And meanwhile Joey and Angie have got to find out where this diamond is, because it ain’t where they thought it would be. Maybe it’s been made to look like a diamond-plated Ferrari? No wait that was “Tower Heist.” And also there needs to be enough time for the TV reporter to explain everything and bring about a happy ending.

So far so good? Well here’s what gets me: Those big inflatable mattresses firemen use when somebody’s about to jump off something tall … Do you believe that when Nick needs to be at ground level immediately, he can gulp some air, take a running start along this ledge here, leap into nothingness and land unhurt after plummeting 21 stories? Uh-uh. That’s just asking too much.

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