Today’s quick review: Man on a Ledge. Framed for stealing a diamond from David Englander (Ed Harris), ex-cop Nick Cassidy (Sam Worthington) breaks out of prison and perches on a ledge 20 stories above the streets of New York. As disgraced police negotiator Lydia Mercer (Elizabeth Banks) tries to talk Nick down, his brother Joey (Jamie Bell) and Joey’s wife Angie (Genesis Rodriguez) try to steal the evidence they need to prove Nick’s innocence.
Man on a Ledge is a crime thriller about an ex-cop who stages a fake suicide attempt as a distraction for his family to clear his name. The movie has good building blocks. Nick uses a variety of tricks to delay the police, manipulate the public, and generally keep all eyes on him. Lydia senses that something is wrong and begins to question the official story of his arrest. And throughout it all is the dangerous possibility that Nick will fall.
Still, Man on a Ledge is not as robust as similar thrillers. There is only really one layer to Nick’s plan, apart from a few minor deceptions that buy him time. Joey’s heist is not as creative as the best the genre has to offer, although it does feel more plausible than the norm. And while the rapport between Nick and Lydia works well enough, it is not tense or personal enough to give the movie a strong emotional core.
Give Man on a Ledge a shot when you are in the mood for a tidy thriller with a unique premise. Man on a Ledge does not have the far-reaching plot or narrative finesse of some of its competition, but it delivers a well-constructed story with enough of a hook to keep the audience invested. Check it out if you want a nice mix of crisis negotiation, crime mystery, and heist. Skip it if you’re looking for something truly mind-bending.
For a more proactive story about a police officer forced to engineer a crisis to clear his name, try The Negotiator. For a wry crime movie about an imprisoned cop trying to solve the case that put him in jail, try Spenser Confidential. For a hostage standoff with more pathos, try Dog Day Afternoon. For a more personal story about a man poised to jump from a building under unusual circumstances, try Ledge.
[6.6 out of 10 on IMDB](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1568338/). I give it a 6.5 for solid fundamentals but not much else.