An ex-cop and now wanted fugitive (Sam Worthington) stands on the ledge of a high-rise building while a hard-living New York Police Department negotiatior (Elizabeth Banks) tries to talk him down. The longer they are on the ledge, the more she realizes that he might have an ulterior objective.
Don’t let the title of the film deceive you, MAN ON A LEDGE is so much more than the namesake and as you clearly see in the trailer there’s a whole lot more going on. This also isn’t your typical ‘heist’ film it has a fairly strong story to go with it MAN ON A LEDGE takes you on quite the ride through a few decent twists and turns and with a pretty damn strong cast to go with it I think most cinema goers will be pleasantly surprised.
The central character is played by Sam Worthington (Avatar, The Debt); he puts on a pretty impressive performance as Nick Cassidy the ex-cop who’s trying to clear his name. I’ve never had a bad thing to say about Worthington and this is definitely not the film to start on, he brings his A-Game every time he also incredibly scared of heights so kudos for taking on this role in the first place. Elizabeth Banks (Role Models, TV’s 30 Rock) plays negotiator Lydia Mercer, I’ve also been a fan of her work but she did let me down in parts might have been some of the dialog or direction but I was hoping for whole lot more. Jamie Bell (Jumper, Defiance) plays the role of Worthington’s brother Joey Cassidy he delivers on everything he needs to, but for some reason every time I looked at him I always through of Billy Elliot, he sort of felt a bit young to be playing this sort of role. There’s no secret I’m a huge fan of Ed Harris he plays the villain in this piece and does an exceptional job doing so even though I would have liked some more screen time I loved every minute of his performance.
MAN ON A LEDGE is an easy enough concept but when done well it delivers in spades and this does in most points but lets me down in only a few.
MAN ON A LEDGE is in cinemas now I give this film 3.5 out of 5.
You can check out a featurette on Man on a Ledge here.