Man on a Ledge (2012)

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
Nick Cassidy	Sam Worthington
Lydia Mercer	Elizabeth Banks
Joey Cassidy	Jamie Bell	½
Mike Ackerman	Anthony Mackie	½
Angela Maria Lopez	Génesis Rodríguez	½
David Englander	Ed Harris	½
Suzie Morales	Kyra Sedgwick
Jack Dougherty	Edward Burns
Dante Marcus	Titus Williver
Nestor	Felix Solis
Frank Cassidy / Valet	William Sadler

Review

A man in his thirties books a hotel suite, enjoys a luxurious breakfast, writes a note, and steps out onto the ledge outside the hotel room window, seemingly in order to commit suicide. Then we flash back one month, to when the man is on leave from prison, attending his father's funeral. He disarms a guard and escapes in spectacular fashion, risking his life in the process. This superb premise is what opens this aptly titled film, Man on a Ledge. Although it's been a while since I was as intrigued by an intro as this, I'm soon starting to suspect that it's too good to last. And I'm gradually proven right. The intricate plot turns out to be too much to handle for director Asger Leth, who struggles to unveil it with the right amount of control and cunning. The story remains interesting enough, despite its pseudo, TV-series-level realism, but in order to clear up the muddle, Leth resorts to simplified good/bad dichotomy and then engages one too many nick-of-time-escapes as the plot thickens (literally). The suspense never dries out, but it turns into an increasingly cruder form of suspense, and whatever subtlety the film had early on goes out the window (again, literally).