In one of the two bonus features included on the Man on a Ledge Blu-ray, Elizabeth Banks provides a commentary track to go with the trailer (one can't watch the trailer without the track, but that's a different matter entirely). One imagines—one hopes—that the entire commentary track is done tongue in cheek (some things she says are certainly jokes) and that she knows how unfortunate a film she is promoting . Banks explains how the entire movie starts off as one thing (the tale of a potential suicide, presumably) and ends up as another (a heist). That, unquestionably is what the film is meant to do, but it isn't actually what goes on.
Directed by Asger Leth, Man on a Ledge stars Sam Worthington as the titular man on said ledge and Banks as the policewoman meant to talk him down, the woman he specifically requests. Where exactly one ought to start off discussing the problems is unclear, so perhaps we'll take them as a whole.
From the moment the film opens, there's no real question about who is good and who is evil and what is a set up and what isn't. We're constantly given the impression that we are supposed to be tricked and confused about what is happening, but it never actually works out that way. From staged conversations to staged fights to inane plans to lies to other characters to lies to the audience to ill-conceived, ill-executed schemes by both the characters and those crafting the film, from start to finish there isn't a moment in the thriller which either thrills or even creates more than the smallest amount of suspense.
Worthington plays Nick Cassiday, a cop who has been framed for a crime he didn't commit. Nick is working with his brother, Joey (Jamie Bell), and his brother's girlfriend, Angie (Genesis Rodriguez), to prove his innocence. Now, as an example that gives away no plot but shows, in part, how poorly thought out the film is, at one point Joey tells Angie that she need not help him, that Joey can do his part of the job alone. It is a terribly sweet sentiment, not wanting to see your girlfriend go to jail, but as the viewer discovers later on, Joey's portion of the job does in fact totally and completely require two people – there is no way Joey could ever do his part without help. The film doesn't seem to indicate that Joey is aware of this, and things are still going according to plan when two people are required, so what then can the audience make of it? The choices seem to be that either the script--the screenplay is by Pablo F. Fenjves--assumes the audience isn't paying attention or doesn't care, or perhaps that things changed after the draft of the conversation was written and no one bothered to go back and clear up the issues.
Article comments