By Kelli Henderson/entertainment editor
If you like little suspense, poorly thought-out scenarios and not many twists and turns for a crime and thriller film, then Man on a Ledge is your flick.
Sam Worthington stars in this film as Nick Cassidy, an ex-cop who also happens to be a runaway convict. After being sentenced to 25 years in prison, Cassidy calls on NYPD psychologist Lydia Mercer (Elizabeth Banks) for help as he threatens to jump to his death from a New York hotel ledge. The ending is good with surprises for the audience that tie the movie together, thank goodness.
Photo courtesy Summit Entertainment
While the acting is not bad, the movie as a whole lacks believability. It is hard to believe in a crime movie when the writers fail to see missing details.
In one scene, the audience sees an extravagant vault. The security guards in the movie point out that the vault is covered with high-tech sensors, including heat sensors in each corner. In reality, a person walking into the vault would instantly set the sensors off because of body heat.
Not in Man on a Ledge. The audience watches a woman attempt to shut the sensors off in a cliché wire-cutting scene (“Which wire do I cut? The red one?”) while in the vault.
To add to the peculiar scenarios, the back-and-forth time setting is somewhat confusing. The film flashes back a month when Worthington is in prison. It is quite clear when the film heads back to the present, but the scenes go back and forth without warning.
Despite its problems with reality, a few of the supporting cast who are put in for comic relief and light chuckles do their job. The twists and turns throughout the movie add to the story and help the film.
Man on a Ledge could be better, but it could also be a lot worse if it had no plot, horrible acting and a bad ending. It seems the writers just skimped on a few details and, unfortunately, made those details stand out.
