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This movie is the proof that the world is becoming a sick and dumb place

People are voting emotionally.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

*Minor Spoilers Ahead* A relatively young man enters a nice hotel and checks in. He orders breakfast, tips the doorman, scribbles some notes down on a napkin and then decides to step out onto the ledge. He is quickly spotted by someone on the ground and the cops arrive. When they make their way up Jack Dougherty (Ed Burns) is initially in charge of the scene. He sticks his head out the window to initiate the negotiation but the man refuses to calm down or leave the ledge but he specifically asks for Lydia Mercer (Elizabeth Banks) and he won't talk to anyone else. Why would he do that? Who is this man? Is this a serious suicide attempt or is something else the endgame here? The critics of this film have said that the film is just too hopelessly stupid and has too many plot holes to overcome mediocrity. The defenders of this film have insisted that this is a B movie thriller and it hits the mark that it's trying to achieve. Nobody is claiming this to be an Oscar calibre picture. I'll get the negatives out of the way first. The real weakness of this movie is the fact that the heist is so implausible and one can find the holes just by glancing too long at it. Angie and Joey's professions are never divulged but they are able to come up with solutions on the spot that secret agents would have trouble with. These are supposed to be blue collar people! I'm sorry but Man on a Ledge hearkens back to Tower Heist on being just a little too slack when the heist is going down. This security system that is guarding the David's stuff would be way too advanced for an ex-cop and a couple of rookie thieves to bypass. There are other points where the plot strains plausibility. The fact that Nick gets clipped by a train and walks away without even a concussion is straight bull. The cast that has been assembled here is mainly of a bunch of actors I like, so with that in my mind, it was one of the factors that intrigued me about the movie. Starting with our protagonist, Sam Worthington gets a lot of grief as an actor. I don't think he's a really good one but he does possess a certain charm and screen presence. I thought he did a pretty good job here, he sells a lot of the film's bad dialogue and I thought there was some pretty decent bantering between him and Elizabeth Banks. He's not the type of star that would raise the grade on this movie despite its flaws but he's solid enough. The better performances came from the cops. I think Elizabeth Banks is extremely underrated as both a comedic and dramatic actress but I thought she was the best performer here. She holds her accent and she's actually compelling here as the hostage negotiator. I thought Anthony Mackie is good but he's totally undercut by a crappy plot twist. At the start of the movie, he's extremely likable and it just made me sad when he turns on a dime near the climax. I would also credit Jaime Bell specifically, he's the more interesting of the bandits and he helps bring the humour to a movie that desperately needed some at points. Ed Harris was probably the actor I liked the least. He's playing a heartless billionaire but he's not interesting. He's just a $#!&. There's no dimension to him as a character and even though I think Ed Harris is a good actor he certainly didn't help here. Genesis Rodriguez was weak in this movie. She's playing to stereotypes too hard, they don't give her enough to work with and there doesn't seem to be much to her outside of that. If there was anything else that I can credit the movie for, after the first 30 minutes the movie paced pretty well. It moves along briskly and it's got some pretty solid camera work. Even though I was tripping over the plot holes and some of the bad dialogue, it moved quickly enough and that it kept me interested as it came to its conclusion. I was in a pretty good mood when I watched this but when I try to compare it to other movies though, this is still head and shoulders above Tower Heist. The film manages to coast by on its premise, some decent acting, a quick pace and solid camera work. It has its problems but I would agree that this is an expensive B movie that isn't aiming to be a classic like an Ocean's Eleven. It set its sights much lower and if you can look past the big pile of stupid that sits right in front of it, you could have a good time watching it. It just barely got past the finish line though.

Man on a Ledge wants to be high concept thriller mixing Inside Man with The Negotiator as the events you see are masking other events behind the scenes.Sam Worthington is Nick Cassidy, a former police officer now escaped convict for stealing a high value diamond from a Trump like business mogul(Ed Harris.)After his escape Cassidy checks into a hotel and then walks on to a window ledge, drawing the attention of crowds below who thinks he will jump.Cassidy demands to see disgraced negotiator Lydia Mercer (Elizabeth Banks.) At the same time Cassidy's father and brother are up to schemes of their own and then there is the case of Cassidy's former cop partner put out that he has escaped.The film is a predictable but enjoyable popcorn film with a cast that makes it hard to take things seriously. William Sadler pops up as a room service waiter, surely he is going to be more than that. Anthony Mackie, is the former partner still maintaining Cassidy's innocence but again not seemingly trying too hard to prove it. Harris is just too slimy, what did happen to that diamond?The film is rather derivative of elements from many other films ranging from The Fugitive, Dog Day Afternoon, Mission Impossible, The Italian Job as well as the films I mentioned earlier. It just about holds together.

Man on a Ledge. What a ridiculous name for a movie. And ridiculous is exactly what it is, albeit a story that's as wobbly as Worthington's accent. Nicky Cassidy's (Worthington) an escaped convict whose suicide attempt in front of tens of people on the streets of New York distracts the public from a ludicrous heist that his brother (Jamie Bell) and his brother's girlfriend (Genesis Rodriguez) are carrying out. They're after a prized diamond, to prove to the world of Nick's innocence. Man on a Ledge is an amusing watch, even if it breaks our suspension of disbelief. The suspense is equaled by stupidity, with the cast, including Elizabeth Bank's negotiator, Ed Burns' detective and Anthony Mackie's lawyer stretched out. Other cast members look as if they're enjoying themselves; Bosch main man Titus Welliver revels in being a jerk, whilst Ed Harris's villain should have more screen time. They make MoaL worth the while.

Maybe this movie would get 7/10 if it were made 20 years ago. I don't know maybe I have seen too many movies, but there was nothing fresh, and it was kinda boring and at times not believable. I'm not talking action scenes not being believable, I am OK with that. The normal drama scenes were the problem. Elisabeth Banks didn't do a very good job in my opinion. She is beautiful though.The ending of the movie is like what??!?It's good, but that was so lucky it's not even funny. I was wondering all along what the plan is, to reveal Ed Harris is a fraud.Their original plan could not work. What would Sam's brother and his girl do if they found the diamond in the place where it was supposed to be? No one would believe them. They could plant it there! Like what was the plan!!??And so, that plan fails , and then another plan fails, and then, plan C that could not be possibly predicted works great, and is probably the only possible way that all this stuff could work.Well in the end at least it worked.The movie actually wasn't that bad. It was just OK. And had some problems. Mainly though, I just wish the actors and casting did a better job. The only great role was Ed Harris.This movie is so so. Has some watchable moments, but it just doesn't click. Maybe I could give it 6/10 , but 5/10 is fair.