Man on a Ledge

The premise of this film is typical B-movie fodder, helped by the self-explanatory title (like Snakes on a Plane), you know what you are going to get.

Sam Worthington stars as Nick Cassidy, a former cop wrongly convicted who seemingly wants to end it all by jumping from the ledge of a high rise building in Manhattan.  Attempting to talk him down is psychologist Lydia Mercer (Elizabeth Banks, always useful) but slowly like any good B-movie, it slowly shows you its hand by having layers.

Nick is in charge of a team hoping to rob a bank, a raid led by his younger brother Joey (Jamie Bell) and Angie (Genesis Rodriguez - who wears pink undies to the party)

This allows for a lot of action to take place cutting between the high rise exterior allowing for helicopter shots and vistas in contrast to the claustrophobic feel of the bank raid.  You can maybe be cynical with these heist films that require a genuine sense of detachment from reality - where everything has to go so smoothly for the whole plan to come together.  Yet unlike some films that overstay its welcome with an extended running time, this has a real zip to proceedings which keeps hold of your attention.

Nick has to stay on the ledge long enough to deflect attention from alarms and persuade the cops that his need to end his life is more important. Too some extents that is hard to believe, but in Sam Worthington there is a real everyman quality about him in all his performances, so convincing was he in a wheelchair during Avatar, you could sense his elation when he became his avatar.

A good solid supporting cast of Ed Harris, Ed Burns (doing his typical New Yourk bit as a grumbled cop), Kyra Sedgwick and Anthony Mackie, give a sense of reliability to a film that will give you exactly what it says on the tin.  Think of it as the Ronseal of movies.

Man on a Ledge is released by Entertainment One on DVD now