Man On A Ledge - Ending saves the movie –SPOILER ALERT The movie has its problems. It's very contrived. Very Very Very Contrived. But hey, it's a Studio Picture, were you really expecting anything else. It has very 'A' moments and then regresses to the trenches of late night 'B'. For example, the Latina is fine at times, but sometimes she really over acts, I have to blame that on the director, for jeepers sake, tell her to pull it back a little. It's like she's playing this caricature half the time, especially at certain times of the movie when it's just starting to feel like an "A LIST" movie, it cuts back to her and her boyfriend (the lead actors brother), whom does a great job dealing with over acting, because if he followed her lead, it could have gotten really silly, he played it well. Come to think of it, I have to blame the director for one of her B moments, for example, when in the middle of all the tension she STRIPS down to her underwear, WHY DOES SHE NEED TO CHANGE?!!!!!!!!!!! It's not like she's changing from a cat woman suit to a nun outfit, she changes from an outfit to basically the same outfit. I know, it's the gratuitous naked scene.. that you see in every B movie.. but this isn't a B movie, so why the B moment. They could have made a better excuse somehow, her clothes are stuck on something and they rip or something, but this was sooooooooooooooo over the head obvious. I'll be truthful, she's got a smokin' hot body, so no harm, but they could have at least had her change into something that didn't look just like what she was wearing, spend 10 minutes and make it less over the head. But worse than that, because her body was great, was her moments of over the top. It's like one of those guys from New York that are in a mafia movie and then they do a new york accent on top of their new york accent, it can get painful. If she just said her lines with her natural self it would have been less B. And I'm not jumping on her, well, I guess I am, it's just that there were a couple of moments where she ripped me out of the flow of the movie, and not for a good reason. She has potential, just needs to be a little more real, as in a little less over the top. The director should have watched her a little better, but overall, he did a tremendous job keeping us totally interested with the man on the ledge for 90 minutes. Hats off to the director. And overall, the acting is very good, the bad policeman running the show is obviously a new york type of guy, and here, he plays it straight, he's already one of 'those' guys, so he adds a 'little' and just delivers, without going too much new york on us. He works nicely. And so does the other cop (Ed Burns), there's been times in movies in the past where he did the extra east coast thing where it wasn't needed, but in this one he was perfect. I guess that's what practice does. The brother's girlfriend will find her place. The father was great. He did a great job with his small role. He could do nothing more there, really nice work. The lead guy (Worthington) had the responsibility of keeping us on the edge and he did all that he could with every situation and scene he had. Couldn't change a thing with him. Ed Harris does something here and there that is a little of what he does and a little of something new. The guy's a genius. He always delivers. The movie had a lot of convenient moments, especially with the brother and his girlfriend, but that's expected in these kind of movies, it's all convenient timing. It's fine, but I must say, the best is the wrap up at the end, you really feel good when the movies over, as if, that was fun, even though overall,95% of the movie is not a feel good movie, it's suspense, it just ends all nice and wrapped up in a happy box. If I had to go back in time I would watch this movie again. If you haven't seen it, definitely rent it. Well worth it, yes there are a couple of story flaws, like here's a cop that everyone knows his history
.EVERYONE KNOWS
that he stole a 40 million dollar diamond a year or so earlier a block away, but no one recognizes him
that was a huge problem in the movie, and there are others, but still worth the watch.