MAN ON A LEDGE
US, 2012, 102 minutes, Colour.
Sam Worthington, Elizabeth Banks, Jamie Bell, Ed Harris, Edward Burns, Anthony Mackie, Genesis Rodriguez, Titus Welliver.
Directed by Asger Leth.
Far-fetched (one hopes) but eminently watchable.
Sam Worthington (rather uncharismatically strong) spends a great deal of the film on a ledge of the Roosevelt Hotel in Manhattan. But, first, we see him in prison, serving a 25 year sentence for stealing a very valuable diamond from building entrepreneur, Ed Harris. He is allowed out for his father’s funeral where he clashes with his brother, Jamie Bell – and then escapes. Which leads him on to the ledge.
It soon emerges why he is on the ledge – but that is part of the cleverness of the plot, quite intricate in its way, with more than an effective climax and a pleasing twist at the end. But, probably, best for an audience to find this out for themselves rather than read about the plot development in a review.
Worthington has appeared in Avatar and The Debt. Jamie Bell has been playing a number of character rather than leading roles and is building himself an effective career. Elizabeth Banks usually plays feisty roles. Here she is the expert on talking down would-be suicides, though she is haunted by a recent failure and her suspicions that this case is not ‘normal’ at all. Ed Burns is her associate on the scene – wary of a woman in the advisory role. Ed Harris plays the millionaire with great gusto, a narcissistic megalomaniac.
There is obviously much more to the robbery of the diamond and we suspect police corruption – and we are right. This means that getting the man down from the ledge (where a crowd has gathered, many urging him to jump) is far more complicated than we might have first imagined. It does involve his brother and his fiancée doing a lot of stunt work.
Right will out at the end and vindications where necessary – and a nice, tongue-in-cheek ending with the bell-hop of the hotel.
Paperback action, but entertaining.
1. A good thriller? Mystery? Conspiracy story?
2. A New York story, the focus on the hotel, the ledge, the streets below, the crowds, the police? Offices? The structure behind the offices and behind the scenes? The interiors? The ledge and the roof? The musical score?
3. The situation, Nick, his role in the police, his partner? His being accused, twenty-five years’ sentence? The robbery? The problems in the jail, the parole officer? His father’s death, the funeral, the escort, burying the father, the clash with Joe, Angie present? The fight, turning the tables on the escort, getting the gun, his escape?
4. Going to the hotel, the bellhop, the meal, going out on the ledge? Jack Dougherty and the other police? Asking for Lydia Mercer? Nick’s behaviour on the ledge, playing to the crowd, his earpiece, the revelation of contact with Joe, directing him in getting into the safe, the importance of the timing, the details of the plan, recovering the diamond – and vindication?
5. Lydia and waking, her job, her sense of past failure, working in a man’s world? The looking down on Lydia? Interactions with Doughertey? Talking with Nick, forming a bond with him, the puzzle about his attitude and behaviour? Getting more information, his identity, the fingerprints – and the timing for this information? Trying to persuade him to come down? Her control of Doughertey? Her leadership? Mike Ackerman, the scenes with Nick in the prison, close partnership, Ackerman coming into the room, the lockout? Lydia believing him, going out on the ledge herself?
6. Joe and Angie, the plan, the detail, the timing, getting inside, getting through security, the lifts, the ladders, the heat surveillance, substitute photos for the video surveillance? Nick directing everything? Getting into the office, the safe, the diamond, taking the diamond – and being caught?
7. David Englander, Ed Harris’s style? Businessman, the robbery, his super-confidence, his plans for the building, his contacts with the police? The PR and the press? His catching Joe, the confrontation, the secret safe? Taking the diamond, confronting Nick?
8. Nick and his jumping, caught, pursuing Englander, the switching of the diamond, Joe and the bellhop and their participation? His catching Englander? Offering the diamond as proof?
9. The vindication, Mike Ackerman and the shooting? The confrontation on the roof, Dante Marcus, corrupt, the shootings? Lydia on the roof?
10. The media, Suzie Morales, her intervening, her broadcasts, switching audience attention to different details, switching audience attitudes? Her comeuppance?
11. The final scene at the pub, the revelation about the bellhop being the father, not dead? Joe and his ring for Angie? The conclusion of a watchable thriller?
