Man On A Ledge (** out of ****)

I'm going to be mean here. Why not? I wrote that way in my The Season of the Witch review and I quite liked it. So let's try to do that style again. Expect spoilers. I'll do my best, something the film didn't (see, we started already).

Nick Cassidy (Sam Worthington) is framed for a crime he didn't commit. He can't get an appeal and prison just isn't for him. So he and his brother Joey (Jaime Bell) come up with a plan. I wrote that word "plan" with some hesitation. If there was ever a more ludicrous heist/prove I'm innocent plan out there please tell me. I'd be really interested in watching that. The plan requires Nick escaping from armed guards when released to attend his father's funeral. Then he checks himself into a hotel room that has a ledge 52 stories up. Nick will stand on this ledge and provide a distraction for Joey who will sneak into the building across the street. That building has a safe that supposedly holds the diamond Nick supposedly stole. The diamond never left real estate tycoon David Englander's (Ed Harris) hand. 

I have a problem with the plan amongst other things. Why stand on a ledge? He wants negotiator Lydia (Elizabeth Banks) specifically to talk him down but her role in the actual plot seems minimal. What if Nick falls? Well he keeps saying he's ready to die, but that doesn't include falling prematurely before the heist is finished. It's a good possibility considering his situation. Also may I say when called upon, Nick can run like he's straight out of Mirrors Edge across this ledge. It just does't seem possible (not as bad as jumping perniciously on a safety ballon and immediately get up to chase a guy). The next thing I would like to address is Joey's story. He and his girlfriend Angie (Genesis Rodriguez) break into a state of the art vault with a plan that seems thrown together on a whim (not like a year which Joey says). The two take time to lovingly banter. The audience I saw it with quite liked the humor in the film. It doesn't match the tone at all. The jokes have no place here. Some of the most useless dialogue I've ever seen. Genesis Rodriguez runs around in a push up bra and of course strips down to her underwear at one point in order to switch gear. My god is she pretty but the scene is childish. Michael Bay called and wants his mindless and random sex appeal back. We all know this is going to end on a happy note. So what suspense can there be. No way will Nick fall abundantly and Joey fail early because the film still has so many minutes left. When the audience knows more or less how a story will end, we need intrigue to see how it happens. We want to see how the characters get to this conclusion. I didn't care enough to hope the bad guys would win. No personal involvement is a dreadful thing.

Sam Worthington what happened? You starred in Avatar, the highest grossing film of all time, you showed great talent in Somersault and now we have this. I had high hopes for Wrath of the Titans but I'm not so sure. Jaime Bell and Ed Harris you two are better than than this as well. The rest of the cast are fine actors as well but let's be honest, anytime they star in feature films isn't a bad thing. This is an easy movie to watch, with actors I enjoy (not so much here) to replace for interesting characters. It could be worse. Actually I'm not to sure about that. You won't hate but you'll find it very dumb. Films should engage the audience intellectually to a degree, not have you leaving stupider if you gave your self to it.

** out of ****