Man On A Ledge [2012]

"Jump! Jump! Jump!" a crowd cries as Nick Cassidy an escaped felon pushes suicide to whole new level. "Why" you might ask "would Hollywood produce a film about suicide?" A great question. However, wouldn't that be Hollywood shooting themselves in the....foot?! To put you at ease, this movie is not about suicide. Instead its about a diamond heist. An impact thriller that will pull you to the edge of your seat every time you start to settle back.

Sam Worthington (Nick) most well known for his roles as Jake Sully in Avatar and Perseus in Clash of the Titans, displays a fantastic fanatic who risks everything to get back what he lost from the beginning - his family. Seeing him hit it big first in a tree-hugging, agenda-laden, cinematic breakthrough film was not the best first impression. His personality is already very rough and adding his serious vocal fry and constantly wrinkled forehead to the mix didn't spice up his character any more. Instead, we were forced to have cheese graters run across our eardrums with Sparta like force every time he spoke. Alas, I think his career is forever resigned to loud battle cries and thrusting spears into the air with Perseus like strength.

Genesis Rodriguez (Angie) a fairly new actress to the screen in terms of feature film productions, played the girlfriend of Joey Cassidy, Nick's brother. Having never before seen her onscreen, I'd say she did a terrific job with one of her first intense action/thrillers. Apart from her dumb-blonde like personality and apparent claustrophobia, she plays the part of "sexy thief" well. Still no competition though to Angelina Jolie in Mr. & Mrs. Smith or Catherine Zeta-Jones in Entrapment.

Jamie Bell (Joey) a less well-known actor whose recent guises were Jimmy in King Kong, Griffin in Jumper, and most recent as the voice of Tintin in The Adventures of Tintin, showed some interesting tenacity in playing a screw up brother who's macho-like ego and insecure relationship stance makes him a fun if not funny character to watch while trying his hand at theft. The offset dynamic between Genesis and Jamie makes for a "gotta watch" scenario.

A few things to note:

1. Language jumps in and out (pun intended). You'll have scenes streaked with cursing and then not hear anything for a long time. So be forewarned.
2. Apart from a scene of Angie changing into a jumpsuit, there is no other nudity or sexual content in this film.
3. Themes of suicide, theft, pride, and guilt are major talking points for younger crowds. 
4. There are several scenes of shooting with blood following, so "fist-pump" for a little action in this thriller.

Overall, I really enjoyed this movie for it's originality as far as heist movies swing. Because of its originality and humorous relationship action but mediocre acting, I am giving this film 3 out of 5 suicide jumps (because BASE jumping is too mainstream).

Thanks for reading.

~From the library of J.B. Wadsworth