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.

Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol Review

Tom Cruise is back for a fourth outing with the IMF. That’s Impossible Mission Force, obviously, not International Monetary Fund, as any sensible person would naturally assume. The film kicks off with Cruise being busted out of a Russian prison for crimes unknown. He and his team (Pegg, Renner, and Patton) are then sent on the trail of Michael Nyqvist’s nuclear terrorist via the Kremlin, Dubai and Mumbai. En route, the Kremlin gets a bit blown up in what is incorrectly assumed to be an American attack and Team Tom are formally disavowed and must go rogue in order to save the day.

MIssion Impossible: Ghost Protocol is inherently, inexcusably and spectacularly ridiculous. It’s overlong, makes baffling logical leaps and in Tom Cruise, boasts a lead actor who may just be getting too old for this shit. It is also a heck of a lot of giddy and occasionally breath-taking good fun. It is likely to make you happy; and for this it must be commended. The ‘good bits’ come fairly frequently. Some are eye-boggling set pieces, such as the outstanding (and arguably pointless) free climbing section on the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest skyscraper. Others are smaller moments, such as the witty exchange between Cruise and a pursuer as he thinks twice before jumping from a window ledge; “it’s higher than it looked!” (This sequence is undermined somewhat by the vaguely grotesque sight of Cruise’s forty-nine year old bare chest; he’s escaping from a hospital and would frankly look more dignified in a backless surgical gown).

Whilst it is rollicking good fun, there are some disappointing elements. Nyqvist is largely wasted – there are product placement items that get more screen time than he does (notably the iPad). In his white suit, he also looks like a psychotic Colonel Sanders in the film’s climactic fight sequence, which is unintentionally hilarious. Director Brad Bird is similarly absent from the picture. I was interested to see what the Pixar guru’s take on the franchise would be but the direction leaves little impression. It would seem that Bird’s biggest influence on the film was getting it shot (partly) in the IMAX format rather than in 3D, for which I personally am rather thankful.

It’s also a little disillusioning that Pegg must play the bumbling goofball to Cruise’s cool dude when in real life, I’m fairly certain the opposite is true. But then if you can buy that, you’ll probably also be able to handle some of the Die-Another-Day-Invisible-Car levels of gadget ridiculousness (the pretend corridor screen, the hovering magnetic suit) and the fact that at one point, Cruise attempts to outrun a sandstorm.

Despite these things, I still enjoyed the film a great deal and when I say that occasionally it was at the film’s own expense, I don’t wish that to come across as too mean-spirited. Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol is the ideal popcorn movie. It may be stupid, it may be brash, but it’s also good clean fun. And if you go to see it at the IMAX, you’ll also see some of the new Batman; what further recommendation do you need?

Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol Review

Tom Cruise is back for a fourth outing with the IMF. That’s Impossible Mission Force, obviously, not International Monetary Fund, as any sensible person would naturally assume. The film kicks off with Cruise being busted out of a Russian prison for crimes unknown. He and his team (Pegg, Renner, and Patton) are then sent on the trail of Michael Nyqvist’s nuclear terrorist via the Kremlin, Dubai and Mumbai. En route, the Kremlin gets a bit blown up in what is incorrectly assumed to be an American attack and Team Tom are formally disavowed and must go rogue in order to save the day.

MIssion Impossible: Ghost Protocol is inherently, inexcusably and spectacularly ridiculous. It’s overlong, makes baffling logical leaps and in Tom Cruise, boasts a lead actor who may just be getting too old for this shit. It is also a heck of a lot of giddy and occasionally breath-taking good fun. It is likely to make you happy; and for this it must be commended. The ‘good bits’ come fairly frequently. Some are eye-boggling set pieces, such as the outstanding (and arguably pointless) free climbing section on the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest skyscraper. Others are smaller moments, such as the witty exchange between Cruise and a pursuer as he thinks twice before jumping from a window ledge; “it’s higher than it looked!” (This sequence is undermined somewhat by the vaguely grotesque sight of Cruise’s forty-nine year old bare chest; he’s escaping from a hospital and would frankly look more dignified in a backless surgical gown).

Whilst it is rollicking good fun, there are some disappointing elements. Nyqvist is largely wasted – there are product placement items that get more screen time than he does (notably the iPad). In his white suit, he also looks like a psychotic Colonel Sanders in the film’s climactic fight sequence, which is unintentionally hilarious. Director Brad Bird is similarly absent from the picture. I was interested to see what the Pixar guru’s take on the franchise would be but the direction leaves little impression. It would seem that Bird’s biggest influence on the film was getting it shot (partly) in the IMAX format rather than in 3D, for which I personally am rather thankful.

It’s also a little disillusioning that Pegg must play the bumbling goofball to Cruise’s cool dude when in real life, I’m fairly certain the opposite is true. But then if you can buy that, you’ll probably also be able to handle some of the Die-Another-Day-Invisible-Car levels of gadget ridiculousness (the pretend corridor screen, the hovering magnetic suit) and the fact that at one point, Cruise attempts to outrun a sandstorm.

Despite these things, I still enjoyed the film a great deal and when I say that occasionally it was at the film’s own expense, I don’t wish that to come across as too mean-spirited. Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol is the ideal popcorn movie. It may be stupid, it may be brash, but it’s also good clean fun. And if you go to see it at the IMAX, you’ll also see some of the new Batman; what further recommendation do you need?