Man on a Ledge (2012)

If nothing else, the new thriller Man on a Ledge gets the first five minutes absolutely right. The remaining 97? Well, let’s stick with the positive right now. It introduces the main character, teases the film’s forthcoming plot, and does it in an exciting way. I was sucked in, and everything seemed to be aligning for another above-average January thriller. Then the story actually kicks into motion, and it doesn’t take long before you realize that Man on a Ledge has no earthly idea what it’s doing. It blends a typical claustrophobic thriller—only outdoors—with a preposterous “screw the one percent!” heist film, and once the two start to converge the entire film falls apart. The writing is forced, the performances unconvincing and the ultimate resolution unfulfilling. Man on a Ledge didn’t have to do too much to succeed as low-level entertainment, yet every decision it makes past the first few scenes proves to be the wrong one.

Sam Worthington stars as Nick Cassidy, a former police officer who was convicted of stealing a valuable diamond owned by mogul David Englander (Ed Harris). Cassidy maintains his innocence, but he goes to jail nonetheless. He is able to escape a few years later, and as soon as he gets free he checks into a New York City hotel, climbs out the window and pretends that he is about to commit suicide. In reality, he is creating a distraction so that his brother Joey (Jamie Bell) and his girlfriend (Génesis Rodríguez) can break into Englander’s building and prove that the diamond was never stolen, except for this time that they are stealing it, but never mind. Predictably, a crowd gathers underneath Cassidy as he continues his charade, which draws the attention of his old partner Mike (Anthony Mackie) and a determined news reporter (Kyra Sedgwick).

If the film chose to devote most of its time to Worthington and his plight on the titular ledge, that probably would have been fine enough. Things only truly derail once the heist plot kicks in, as Bell and Rodríguez go about behaving like no two sane people ever would when they’re attempting to pull off an impossible robbery. They spend most of the time cracking wise about their relationship, and don’t even get me started about the outfit Rodríguez is wearing throughout. It would strike me as entirely impractical, but that’s the movies for you. She is meant to be nothing more than eye candy, and that becomes entirely clear once they get her down to her underwear for no good reason in the middle of the movie. This is a character that sets feminism back about 50 years in a half hour of screen time. She has little use except to arouse any males in the audience. And don’t get me started on the sentences that come out of her mouth.

Maybe I could forgive such lapses in judgment if any of the characters felt like, you know, characters. Everyone feels willed into being by Pablo Fenjves’ (horrible) screenplay, and any attempt at establishing backstory feels hollow and unconvincing. We are expected to buy certain things just because the movie tells us to. Some characters ultimately wind up serving no purpose whatsoever. Mackie is perfectly engaging but also entirely wasted, and Sedgwick literally never factors into the story. She’s starring in a completely different movie that occasionally interrupts this one. The pieces are here for compelling claptrap, but the movie never gives the cast anything to do besides what the plot asks of them. Director Asger Leth has a few impressive moments—again, the first couple minutes—but he does little to elevate the material or performances.

Instead, Man on a Ledge devolves into a series of heist movie clichés that come off as particularly nonsensical. (There’s an actual scene, played straight, in which a character is ordered to Cut the Red Wire™.) As soon as the idea is planted that there’s a mole inside the police force, the audience knows it will end up being one of two characters. It winds up being the one you expect, but not before the film tries (and fails) to trick you into thinking otherwise. The same goes for each character arc; once you meet everyone at the beginning, you can probably guess where their journey going to end. And in every case, you’re right. After a while, it becomes more prudent to list what about the film isn’t obvious and absurd. At the outset, Man on a Ledge seems like an especially promising thriller. Then it reveals itself to be a predictable one that escalates the idiocy with every new scene.

Grade: D+

P.S. – It should be said that I actively liked Henry Jackman’s original score. So there’s that.