Movie Moxie Presents Man on a Ledge

Studio: Summit Entertainment
MPAA Rating: PG 13
Director: Asger Leth
Review Rating: 7

Former convict and cop Nick Cassidy takes to the 21st floor of the Roosevelt building in New York to clear his name!

It’s a serious shame that the previews for the movie more or less completely gave away the plot of the movie, in 3 minutes or less. Yes, we have former cop Nick Cassidy out on the ledge of a building in New York, threatening to jump whilst he tries to clear his name. He’s also, at the same time mind you, masterminding the theft of the diamond he was accused of stealing and sent to jail for in the first place, in the building across the street! Brother Joey and his female accomplice girlfriend Angie are aiding Nick via Comms, apparently they’ve been planning and practicing for this heist for a full year now. So while Nick is distracting the Detective psychologist he insisted the cops call in, Detective Mercer
who’s still dealing with previous demons of her own, his accomplices are breaking into the vault that’s supposed to house the diamond he supposedly stole. Are we in for a shock and surprise – the diamond isn’t IN the vault. Englander, the badass business shark senator type, still has it of course, but the confrontation has to get TO him in order to get the damn diamond. The accomplices go to plan B, as does Cassidy himself, and eventually the man gets off the ledge and manages to get his name cleared, cheered on by a good section of New York’s jaded city street life!

Sam Worthington, of everything from Avatar to Wrath of the Titans fame, stars as Nick Cassidy, in a role that really could’ve displayed more of the variety of his acting talents, but sadly didn’t. Ed Harris is villain Englander, we know he can play a bad guy just fine, thank you. Jamie Bell, of Jumper and King Kong note, is brother Joey Cassidy. Elizabeth Banks, who recently had a role in The Hunger Games as Effie Trinket poor thing, stars as Detective Mercer. Genesis Rodriguez of Entourage fame is girlfriend Angie, I gathered she was supposed to be like the Catherine Zeta-Jones character from Entrapment, I just frankly didn’t see it. And Anthony Mackie, of The Hurt Locker, is former police partner Mike Ackerman.

It’s not a bad film, all things considered. It could’ve been really great, like Inside Man or even Heist. Instead what we have is a good starting premise, some moderately fair acting for the parts they were given, and an ending that’s happy-happy-joy-joy but in reality makes little sense. Yes I know Cassidy was a former cop and most of his pals knew he was setup to begin with, therefore they’re eager and willing to help him clear his name, but come on. The fact that Englander had more than one dirty Cop in his pocket means he really should’ve been able to get past all this stuff that led to his downfall in the movie, but hey, it’s not meant to be a realistic drama.

by

Alicia Glass