Man on a Ledge Review

Man on a Ledge’s director, Asger Leth, has few other credits to his name; the only other of note being his assistant director and co-writing role on The Five Obstructions, Lars von Trier’s experimental documentary in which he challenged the filmmaker Jørgen Leth (Asger’s father) to remake his 1967 film, The Perfect Human in five different ways. What then, could we expect fromMan on a Ledge? Surprisingly, it’s fairly slick and mainstream American thriller.

The plot is relatively simple – a man stands on a ledge of a building in New York, but rather than being suicidal, he is distracting attention from the diamond heist his co-conspirators are undertaking in the opposite building. Of course, there’s a little bit more to it than that. If you want to get bogged down in the specifics, Nick Cassidy, our hero, is an escaped convict and former cop, sent down for stealing the aforementioned diamond. Naturally, Cassidy didn’t steal the diamond but was in fact the fall guy in a dastardly insurance scam at the hands of an unpleasant property magnate. The only way to clear his name is to steal the diamond for real and present it to the authorities.

The simple plotting and robust structure of the film are to its strengths. It also boasts a strong cast. Jamie Bell and (relative) newcomer Genesis Rodriguez impress – their sparky double act as Cassidy’s brother and his girlfriend being the film’s most enjoyable aspect. Elizabeth Banks as the police negotiator and Ed Harris as the baddy give particularly good performances and supporting turns from Anthony Mackie and Edward Burns also please. Unfortunately our man at the centre of all this is played by charisma-vacuum Sam Worthington, an actor that never fails to bore.

The film will suffer in comparisons with comparatively recent releases such as Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol and Tower Heist. The would-be vertigo-inducing ledge-standing shenanigans are thoroughly emasculated by Tom Cruise’s skyscraper shimmying. It’s hard to feel too frightened for Worthington on his rather roomy ledge once we’ve seen the Cruisester stuck to the side of the world’s tallest building with a just a sticky glove for assistance. Tower Heist also rather steals the film’s thunder in the ‘have a couple of slightly goofy characters perform an elaborate and risky robbery on an old evil rich dude in a tall building’ stakes.

The film that Man on a Ledge would clearly prefer to be compared to is Phone Booth, a classic example of that sub-genre of the thriller movie, the character stuck in a single location scenario.Man on a Ledge is too flighty to truly belong in this genre, but like Joel Schumacher’s neat effort, it’s fairly engaging, pleasingly taut and not beyond all realms of possibility.

Man on a Ledge’s biggest problem is its bizarrely Neanderthal attitudes to its female characters, of which there are three of any note (four at a push). Two of which (Banks and Kyra Sedgwick’s TV reporter) are described as being ‘despised’ and ‘hated’ respectively by male characters. Genesis Rodriguez is reduced to mere eye candy. Throughout the film, she wears a ridiculous push-up bra, which I assumed she was wearing in order to seduce a guard or something, but no, it’s simply to keep the adolescent boys in the auditorium paying attention. Similarly at one point, Rodriguez has to strip down to her undercrackers and don a skin-tight cat suit, for no good reason whatsoever. Well, for no reason to do with the plot at least. It’s especially irritating given how good Rodriguez is in the film; she shouldn’t have to be objectified and in such a crass and cynical way.

Nevertheless, Man on a Ledge was still largely enjoyable. By no means flawless, it is a strong ensemble thriller and a decent mainstream debut for Leth. On the strength of Man on a Ledge, and as long as he can shrug off its slightly derivative and uncomfortable sexist tendencies, it will be most interesting to see what his next project will be.

The Next Three Days Review

Everybody’s favourite surly Australian action man, Russell Crowe stars in this Paul Haggis remake of French thriller, Anything for Her, boringly retitledThe Next Three Days. Upon its cinematic release, it received neutral to poor reviews (as a friend and associate maintained at the time) so I came to it with low expectations. I was pleasantly surprised to find that I actually quite liked it, though with some reservations.

Crowe plays the husband of Elizabeth Banks, a couple with a young son, whose happy existence is interrupted one morning when the feds arrive for breakfast and arrest Banks for the murder of her boss. When all appeals fail, it appears that Banks will be doing time for the rest of her life – unless Mr Crowe, armed with the advice of a cameo-ing Liam Neeson, can push himself to the necessary lengths to break her out of prison.

The inherent problem with The Next Three Days is that although it would have you believe that it asks whether or not a prison break really could be pulled off by an ordinary man, you’re constantly expected to ‘go with it’. Even just a few suspensions of disbelief sully the realism which would otherwise inform much of the film. For example, during the break out, Crowe has his young son attend a conveniently scheduled birthday party, which eventually complicates their escape. Would it not have been easier just to sit him in the getaway car for half an hour with his Gameboy? There are several instances such as this which unnecessarily complicate the action.

The fluidity of time in the narrative is also annoying and occasionally hard to keep track of – though the moment when the action catches up with the opening flash-forward scene is very effective and even a little affecting, as is the moment when Crowe’s father says goodbye to his son, having realised he won’t be seeing him again. Other quibbles including the casting of two leads (if that can be called a quibble), who are far from the most charismatic actors around (it’s quite amazing to see Crowe smiling and laughing at the beginning of the film, though he soon reverts to his po-faced norm).

In spite of its flaws though, I did quite like the film. There were some neat tricks Crowe learns, such as how to make a skeleton key and how to break into a car with a tennis ball, which I enjoyed seeing, as well as the scenes of Crowe’s home as it gradually becomes emptier and emptier as he sells off his furniture to fund his obsession. The whole, ‘is he really quite mad?’ question the film raises was fun to answer too. Finally, I enjoyed the atmosphere of understatement during the film and the final chase sequence at the end. It may by no means be the greatest film you’ll ever see, but The Next Three Days is a decently put together flick, that perhaps with more interesting leads and a bigger commitment to credibility, could have been a very exciting film indeed.