Saturday, January 28, 2012

MAN ON A LEDGE # 8-2012


Frankly, I went into MAN ON A LEDGE, with a bad attitude.  Contained thrillers often seem, well, contained.  I don’t consider Liberty Stands Still and Phone Booth classics.  I received what I expected, nothing more, nothing less.
This is a classic example of the trailer giving away too much.  It’s not uncommon for the trailer to tease the first fifteen minutes of a movie and throw in a stunt or two.  Then you’re left with the bulk of the movie to be discovered.    Mission Impossible:  Ghost Protocol had a great trailer.  They gave us lots of action and stunts, but not much of a hint as to story.  The Man on a Ledge trailer gives you the entire plot.  Man goes on a ledge as a diversion for revenge.  That’s it - just add a couple of stunts and you have a movie.
The acting was top notch.  Sam Worthington makes a fantastic man on a ledge.  You believe he just might jump.  Elizabeth Banks shines as the officer assigned to talk Worthington off the ledge, despite the awkward hanging out the window to do her work.  A couple of my favorites make appearances.  Ed Burns plays a cop and Ed Harris weighs in as our bad guy.  The eye candy, Genesis Rodriguez, does not disappoint.
No spoiler alert for this one - the trailer did that for me.  There are a couple of times where the filmmaker cheats and things come just a little to easy - the final scene in the safe for example.  All in all, I rate this movie three of five airplanes. 


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