As a police psychologist works to talk down an ex-con who is threatening to jump from a Manhattan hotel rooftop, the biggest diamond heist ever committed is in motion...
Dumber than its title and less exciting than its poster, this spectacularly silly thriller starts with a sky-high concept and soon plummets towards preposterousness.
A strong ensemble cast (including Ed Harris and most notably Bell) also lend the film a higher calibre of performance and intelligence than it probably deserves.
Diverting, but it’s not just the ledge that’s rickety here.
It’s not as exciting as it should be but picks up towards the end and Ed Harris is fun as a property tycoon nasty.
It’s a premise with more holes in it than a crate of doughnuts and, in the absence of decent dialogue or distinctive direction, Worthington’s personality vacuum sucks the fun out of it.
The giddy thrill of the story – perched high above the milling genre stereotypes – was grounded long ago.
Worthington, no stranger to the fantastical (Avatar), has a more obvious problem hiding his Aussie roots; every time the tension climbs his accent goes Down Under. But that's small beer next to the multiplying absurdities of the story, devised by the writer Pablo F Fenjves. He should take a running jump.
[The] cast, though, keep it entertaining even if Worthington's accent jumps from American to Australian and back again several times throughout.
Thriller turns into unintentional comedy.
Man On A Ledge feels like a waste of everyone’s time.
Compared with Tom Cruise’s recent exploits on the Burj Khalifa in Mission: Impossible 4, Worthington might as well be standing on the roof of a bungalow, but first-time feature director Asger Leth finds some suitably vertigo-inducing angles.
A joyfully silly thriller that won’t win any awards for subtlety, but it already knows that.
From minute to minute it's ingenious, gripping stuff, and much of it was actually shot atop the Roosevelt hotel, so be warned. Acrophobes of the world unite, you have nothing to lose but your balance.
General release. Check local listings for show times.
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