Man on a Ledge is a 2012 thriller film directed by Asger Leth, starring Sam Worthington, Elizabeth Banks, Jamie Bell and Ed Harris. Filming took place in New York City.
Contents
1 Plot
2 Cast
3 Development
4 Reception
5 References
6 External links
Plot
In New York City, a mulleted gentleman, Nick Cassidy (Sam Worthington) checks in at the Roosevelt Hotel under the false name of Walker, goes to his hotel room at the top floor, and climbs on the ledge, apparently ready to commit suicide. The crowd below sees him and calls the police. They isolate the area, with Dante Marcus (Titus Welliver) controlling the crowd, while Jack Dougherty (Edward Burns) tries to talk with Nick. However, he says he'll only speak to negotiator Lydia Mercer (Elizabeth Banks), who is on a leave of absence after failing to convince a depressed policeman not to jump from the Brooklyn Bridge a month earlier.
Lydia arrives at the hotel room and manages to acquire Nick's fingerprints from a cigarette they share. Dougherty has them analyzed and discovers that Nick is an ex-policeman who was arrested for stealing a $40 million diamond from businessman David Englander (Ed Harris). Nick, however, says he's innocent, and reveals that Englander used to employ cops to protect his multi-floor jewelry business. One day, while Nick was on duty, he was knocked unconscious by two men in ski masks and awakened to find out Englander had framed him for stealing the diamond in order to get the insurance money, as he had lost his fortune during the stock market crisis. One week before, Nick escaped after being allowed to attend his father's funeral.
Unbeknowst to the police, Nick is merely distracting them while his brother Joey (Jamie Bell) and Joey's girlfriend Angie (Genesis Rodriguez) break into Englander's upper floor jewelry vault in the building across the street to steal the diamond and prove Nick's innocence. Meanwhile, Dougherty informs Marcus of Nick's identity, and Marcus orders the security of the jewelry store to check the vault. Although Joey and Angie are able to evade them, they don't find the diamond, which is actually hidden in another safe that they did not know about. They set off the alarms, tricking Englander into retrieving the diamond and returning to his office, where they ambush him and steal the diamond at gunpoint.
Meanwhile, Nick's ex-partner, Mike Ackerman (Anthony Mackie), arrives at the hotel with evidence that Nick is planning something and demands to be allowed into the hotel room, but Lydia doesn't trust him and Dougherty backs her up. Ackerman claims he has found bomb schematics in Nick's hideout and is convinced that he'll detonate an explosive somewhere. While the crowd is evacuated by the anti-bomb squad, Lydia, believing in Nick's innocence, calls Internal Affairs and discovers that three of the cops employed by Englander were suspected of being corrupt: a deceased man called Walker; Ackerman; and Marcus.
Englander calls Marcus, one of the men who helped him frame Nick, and has him capture Joey and Angie, but they have already given the diamond to a hotel concierge that passes it to Nick as he's being chased by the tactical team throughout the hotel. Marcus orders Lydia to be arrested for helping Nick and chases Nick to the roof. Englander brings Joey and Angie and threatens to throw Joey off the roof if Nick doesn't give him the diamond, Nick does, and Englander leaves. Meanwhile, Lydia escapes custody, steals a gun and rushes back to the roof.
There, Marcus holds Joey at gunpoint in order to force Nick to jump off the roof, silencing him, when Ackerman arrives and shoots Marcus. However, Marcus has a bulletproof vest and shoots back at Ackerman, mortally wounding him. Nick rushes to Ackerman's side, and Ackerman apologizes, claiming that, although he helped Englander to fake the diamond's theft, he never expected that Englander would frame Nick. Marcus is preparing to kill Nick when Lydia arrives and shoots him dead.
Nick jumps from the roof onto an air mattress set up earlier by the police, catching up to Englander before he enters in his limo, beats him, and pulls the missing diamond from his pocket, revealing the truth. Englander is arrested, and Nick is proved innocent and released from prison. He meets Joey, Angie and Lydia at a bar, where he introduces Lydia to the Hotel concierge, who was actually Nick's father in disguise, having faked his death in order to help his son. Joey proposes to Angie with a diamond ring stolen from Englander's vault and they all celebrate together.
Cast
Sam Worthington as Nick Cassidy
Elizabeth Banks as Lydia Mercer
Jamie Bell as Joey Cassidy
Anthony Mackie as Mike Ackerman
Génesis RodrÃguez as Angie
Ed Harris as David Englander
Kyra Sedgwick as Suzie Morales
Edward Burns as Jack Dougherty
Titus Welliver as Dante Marcus
Development
On September 3, 2010, it was confirmed that Jamie Bell had joined the cast Filming began on October 30 in New York City. On November 1, it was confirmed that Ed Harris and Titus Welliver had joined the cast
The first image from the set was revealed on November 2, 2010. The first teaser poster for the film was released on November 5, 2010. The first trailer was released by Summit Entertainment on September 22, 2011. The film will be distributed by Summit Entertainment and E1 Entertainment (UK).
[edit]Reception
Man on a Ledge has earned mostly negative reviews from critics, earning a 28% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 113 reviews. The consensus for the film states: "Uninspired acting and preposterous plotlines diffuse Man on a Ledge's mildly intriguing premise." Audience reaction however was more positive with 66% favorable.
The film placed fifth in the box office top ten with an extremely poor $8,300,000 gross.
source: wikipidia.com
