Man on a Ledge review

     As I first saw the commercial for "Man on a Ledge", directed by Asger Leth, I knew I wanted to see it.  Although, unlike most trailers, it didn't give away what it was about, the idea seemed like something I could definately be interested in.  After a few weeks of commercials, I figured I would take the initiative, one which commonly lies with one of my friends, to plan a movie night.
     As we got into the theater, I watched the other trailers with anticipation, just waiting for the movie to start.  This is where I start spewing out spoilers, so stop reading now if you don't want the plotline given away.  When the movie began, I had already previously read a small paragraph reviewing the film on the Internet Movie Data Base (http://imdb.com), so I knew that Nick Cassidy (Sam Worthington) was an ex-con.  As I saw him walking, well dressed, through the urban streets of New York City, what I didn't know is that he wasn't quite an ex-con yet.  Then came a hard cut, flashing back to his cell block, showing scenes of him getting into fights, and telling the audience that his dad was near death, and had finally died.  What intrigued me most was the funeral.  As the movie cuts to the burial of Cassidy's father, you see Nick in his orange prison clothes, watched over by two armed guards.  Joey Cassidy (Jamie Bell), Nick's brother, then strolls across the graveyard and soon gets in to a fight with Nick, forcing the policement to get involved.  Unbeknownst to the viewers, Joey, Joey's girlfriend, Angie (Genesis Rodriguez), and Nick had been planning this.  As the fight continued on, Nick was able to steal a cop's gun and force both police and his brother onto the ground for his gettaway.
     Then back to the skyscrapers and traffic of New York, where Nick Cassidy is buying a room in the Roosevelt Hotel under a false name.  He proceeds to climb onto the ledge outside the Hotel, getting investigators onto his floor.  After they learn his true identity, he threatens to jump to convince them to help him prove his innocence in a case that he wasn't involved in: the theft of a $40,000,000 diamond, owned by David Englander (Ed Harris).  It was said that he had destroyed the diamond, but Cassidy claims that Englander framed him.  throughout these many, enthralling scenes, the setting switches back and forth between Joey and Angie trying to steal the diamond (to prove that it's in one piece), and Nick talking to investigators.  Finally, after getting the diamond off of Englander himself, it gets passed off through a hotel valet, into the hands of Nick Cassidy.  At this point, Nick has gotten away from the Roosevelt because tactical had come down to catch him.  As Cassidy runs with the diamond, trying to escape, he gets caught and is forced to give Englander the diamond.  Then, after a fight, and the assumed death of Cassidy's old cop partner, Cassidy jumps onto the inflatable meant to catch him if he jumped.  Instantly after dismounting the inflatable, he runs after the nearly escaped Englander, attacks him, and steals back the entirely intact diamond, proving his innocence, and having a disgruntled Englander carried away by the policemen.  The movie ends with a jolly bar scene with the proposal of Joey to Angie, and the knowledge that the valet is actually Frank Cassidy, Nick and Joey's father, who was never in any danger.
     Throughout the movie, I was intrigued, scene after scene, with the amazing acting and enthralling story.  As Joey and Angie get through the building, using high-tech gadgets to get through security, I enjoyed getting to know the characters, and their emotions, according to each situation.  And of course, when it goes back to the ledge, the determination shown by Nick, and the thrill given to the audience, instead of watching the movie, I experienced it.  So, through the amazing acting shown by every lead, and the intensity felt throughout the film, I could rate this movie nothing but 5 out of 5.