{"id":2276,"date":"2012-01-27T14:00:07","date_gmt":"2012-01-27T22:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=2276"},"modified":"2012-01-27T14:00:07","modified_gmt":"2012-01-27T22:00:07","slug":"man-on-a-ledge-may-leave-you-looking-for-a-ledge-of-your-own","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=2276","title":{"rendered":"Man on a Ledge may leave you looking for a ledge of your own"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nThere are many reasons a good actor will choose to take a job. They might need the money. They might want to work with a certain director, or cast members, attached to the project. They may even have a studio contract requiring them to be in the film. These are the only reasons the actors in \u201cMan on a Ledge\u201d should have agreed to be a part of this film.
\nThe premise is one we\u2019ve seen before and it\u2019s one that has been done better as well. In 1998 Kevin Spacey and Samuel Jackson starred in \u201cThe Negotiator,\u201d a film that is just as exciting to watch today as it was then.
\nThe script is better, the direction is spot on, and the actors command your attention. \u201cMan on a Ledge\u201d doesn\u2019t share any of those qualities.
\nAustralian born Sam Worthington (\u201cAvatar\u201d) plays Nick Cassidy, a former cop convicted of stealing a very large diamond from businessman David Englander played by Ed Harris (\u201cPollock,\u201d \u201cA Beautiful Mind\u201d). Cassidy has always claimed his innocence, and knows he is the only one who can prove it. So, he escapes from prison and stages a phony suicide attempt on the ledge of a New York City hotel.
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\nHe tells negotiator Jack Daugherty played by Edward Burns (\u201cSaving Private Ryan\u201d), that the only person he will speak with is fellow down-on-her-luck negotiator Lydia Mercer who is played by Elizabeth Banks (\u201cSeabiscuit,\u201d \u201c30 Rock\u201d).
\nWhile Mercer negotiates with Cassidy, Cassidy\u2019s brother Joey, played by Jamie Bell (\u201cBilly Elliot\u201d), is busy breaking into Englanders safe. The hope here is to uncover the stolen diamond so they can prove his brothers innocence.
\nThe contrivances don\u2019t stop there. The script is written by Pablo F. Fenjves who is best known for his writing on the small screen. His first effort here on the big screen just doesn\u2019t make it to the majors. The dialogue is stiff and the one-liners tossed in to lighten the mood are inappropriate and in the wrong places.
\nFirst time director Asger Leth builds decent tension with the action on the ledge of the building, but the credit should really go to his cinematographer Paul Cameron.
\nLeth seems to have had no idea how to direct his cast.
\nWorthington keeps slipping back into his Aussie accent, and looks nowhere near frazzled and crazy enough to be out on that ledge in the first place.
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\nBanks is sorely miscast here and that\u2019s too bad, because she\u2019s a good actress, but she commands no authority in her role. She works with a bunch of bonehead cops who talk behind her back and make fun of her every step of the way. This would have worked if she was tough as nails, but she\u2019s not.
\nBurns and Harris collected a paycheck.
\nThe only actor who seemed to be working was Jamie Bell. The UK born actors roots never showed and he stuck to his character from start to finish.
\nThe saddest part of this film is the wasted talent of actor Kyra Sedgwick best known as Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson on The Closer. She plays a perky blond reporter named Suzie Morales whose character is clearly supposed to be Hispanic. Sedgwick even adds a bit of an accent when she speaks her characters last name, but she looks like the All-American girl next door. If Leth had been smart he would have cast Sedgwick as Mercer.
\nSeeing \u201cMan on a Ledge\u201d just might leave you looking for a ledge of your own.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There are many reasons a good actor will choose to take a job. They might need the money. They might want to work with a certain director, or cast members, attached to the project. They may even have a studio contract requiring them to be in the film. These are the only reasons the actors […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":2282,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[6737,6821,10267,13011,17572],"class_list":["post-2276","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-edward-burns","tag-elizabeth-banks","tag-jamie-bell","tag-man-on-a-ledge-movie-review","tag-sam-worthington"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2276","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2276"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2276\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}