Sam Worthington returns to the big screen in a film that you will do yourself favours the lesser you know about it. Even the trailers would have hinted at the genre this film firmly finds itself in. Playing an ex-con who finds himself wanting to leave as he enters the world - Innocent - it's full of gripping, edge (pardon the pun) of your seat stuff as the narrative unravels to reveal what would be one of the movements over the last year - that of the oppression of the poor by the rich and the authorities, and discrimination in the workplace.
For the former, Worthington's Nick Cassidy cuts a figure that the press (personified by Kyra Sedgwick) would like to play up as a desperate man looking toward desperate measures in an attempt to seek attention to his own plight. Just what this plight would be, is best kept under wraps, but you get the drift here, where countless of extras roam the streets below, all eager and rooting for our protagonist to perhaps do the unthinkable and send a message. And the villain (Ed Harris in a token role) is a CEO rich beyond his lifetime, coupled with how those with money almost always make strange bedfellows with those that wield authority. For the latter issue, there's Elizabeth Banks playing a police negotiator with her own skeletons in her closet made worst by discriminating male colleagues all eager to see her crash and burn her career, and frankly don't give her much respect despite protocols that demand the contrary.
With an ensemble cast including Worthington, Banks, Sedgwick, Edward Burns (himself an established filmmaker who sorta sleep walked through his role here) and Anthony Mackie, it was quite the surprise that Jamie Bell (voice of Mr Tintin himself) and Genesis Rodriguez stole the show as the bickering couple set out to play an important role in the entire proceedings, thanks to having comical lines and feeding off each other's energy and flaunting chemistry together. But when it's time to get serious and all puffed with action, Worthington steps up his act and brings this film to a climatic finale worthy and akin to leaping off for that adrenaline rush.
You can read my review of Man on a Ledge at movieXclusive.com by clicking on the logo below.
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