Sam Worthington | average film reviews : Ireland | movie reviews, clips and trailers…

film review: Man on a Ledge (2012)

January 31, 2012 // No Comment

Man on a Ledge is one of those small films that creep up on you… You have no idea they exist and then BAM! They’re all over the place and it turns out they even have people you’ve heard of in them.

As a result, I went into Man on a Ledge only knowing that it starred Sam Worthington, Elizabeth Banks and Jamie Bell. And I put it to you that this is the best way to be. So if you haven’t seen it you can stop reading now. Not that I’m going to give away spoilers, I do, of course, have a no spoiler policy, but it’s worth not even having any expectations.

Course, from the title, Man on a Ledge sounds like a high concept thriller… but it’s actually not. Which was somewhat disappointing to me but how or never. The premise is that Sam Worthington plays a disgraced cop, convicted of a crime he swears he did not commit. He’s exhausted his last appeal and now faces 25 years or so in prison. He’s obviously not happy about this. To tell you any more would be giving things away so I’ll move right along.

What you get with Man on a Ledge is a tight, taut thriller. It’s relatively short, at 102 mins, and it manages to pack a surprising amount of plot in that time. Crucially though, and you’d think this would be something that more films would focus on, the plot makes sense. Well ok, being honest, there’s a couple of rather large plot holes, but they’re nothing that are worth focusing on. You can skim over them with ease.

What keeps the film moving is it’s tight structure. It never gets boring as, with almost clockwork precision, an interesting plot point is revealed nearly every 15 mins. This makes it feel a little like an extended TV show, but that’s not to its detriment. If it’s a TV show, it’s a good one with much higher production values and a rather more talented cast than you might generally get on TV. Except on HBO. They get some serious stars over on that channel…

Another thing that I enjoyed about it, though it is part of what firmly takes it out of high concept territory, is that there’s a bit of levity to it. We don’t spend all our time being very serious on the ledge. There are some great and very funny scenes with Jamie Bell and Genesis Rodriguez, good fun as supporting characters. Rodriguez is certainly an actress I’d like to see in more English speaking roles, I think she could be a great comic actress. Her next role is in Will Ferrell’s Casa de mi Padre, so here’s hoping my hunch is right! And, of course, that Will Ferrell’s new film is actually funny…

My only real criticism of Man on a Ledge is that there may be a slight dragging toward the end.. but I think that has more to do with Ed Harris. He seemed a little confused as to why he was there. He never seemed comfortable in the film. Perhaps he just never got on board with the concept… All in all though, Man on a Ledge is a neat little thriller. It’s probably not going to set your world on fire, but it’s well worth a look.

6.5/10

releasing this week: Clash of the Titans, Remember Me and Kick-Ass

April 2, 2010 // No Comment

I know I mentioned Kick-Ass last week but officially it released on Wednesday 31st March so I just wanted to highlight it again; it really is a good fun film. I posted my review of Kick-Ass already, so you can read it here.

But on to the films that really are releasing on Friday… there’s only 3 and the two I’m highlighting are Clash of the Titans and Remember Me.

Clash of the Titans is the big epic action film for the week. It’s a remake of the 1981 film of the same name. That film was stop-motion animated by the legend Ray Harryhausen. The story is based on the Greek mythological stories of Perseus, and Andromeda. It doesn’t exactly follow those myths but hey, who cares when you’ve got giant monsters right?

The original Clash of the Titans it was actually the last feature film Harryhausen animated. It’s kind of ironic, the reason Clash of the Titans was the last film Harryhausen made was because new special effects techniques pushed out his brand of stop-motion and he couldn’t get the follow up made. This version is being held up as a great example of CGI today. I just thought that was funny is all. Anyway I’ve already seen this one and I don’t want to turn this into a review (which I’ll get around to writing when I finally finish my Shutter Island review). Suffice to say the story is classic, the action is epic and the effects are shiny so if you’re looking for a big ol’ action film this Easter, go for it.

Special mention as well for Trailer 1 on apple.com/trailers. Great use of music, really gets you ramped up for it. Impressive.

Oh actually one thing I will mention. As you may or may not know, this is being released in 3D and 2D. It was rushed into 3D when they saw how successful Avatar was. I saw this in 3D so I can tell you, it’s not really worth it. The 3D is ok but, as is often the case, the 3D glasses make the picture a bit darker and I don’t think it’s worth the trade off here. Save your money.

Remember Me is Robert Pattinson’s attempt to put a little distance between himself and the Twilight franchise before it comes to an end later this year…

Ah that’s probably not really very fair of me. I’ve never seen any of the Twilight films so I don’t really want to slag them off. I just imagine that Mr. Pattinson would be quite keen to have a long career as an actor and not be consigned to playing vampires for the rest of his days. To that end he’s taken on this role of Tyler, an angry young man who meets Ally, a girl suffering from the trauma of seeing her mother murdered.

Remember Me sounds like a romantic drama made to appeal to the female 15-45 demographic. Romance tinged with tragedy, if there weren’t two Nicholas Sparks films coming out this year I’d say this could be top contender for that genre this year. Which is not to say it’s going to be a bad film. I hope it’s not, it actually sounds kind of interesting to me… what with being smack in the middle of that target audience.

I have no idea if this actually is a good film but it’s definitely sounds like a strong weepie, so if you’ve already seen and loved The Blind Side this is the film for you.

Other films this week…

How To Train Your Dragon – Mentioned this last week because the previews started last Friday but it’s only got it’s full release this week. Kids film from Dreamworks, creators of the Shrek and Madagascar movies, as well as Kung Fu Panda. I gather it’s great fun, has a very cute dragon apparently. I probably won’t but if you’re looking for a kids film this weekend I’m sure you could do worse.

Samson and Delilah – Australian drama about a young couple in love, yearning to escape their remote Aboriginal community. Winner of the Caméra d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival last year. Limited release so you’ll only catch it in Dublin in the IFI, Lighthouse cinema Smithfield and The Screen on D’olier street.

Kick-Ass, Clash of the Titans, Remember Me, How To Train Your Dragon and Samson and Delilah are in cinemas today, Friday 2nd April. (I really should have got this article out sooner)…

film review: Avatar 3D (2009)

December 17, 2009 // 11 Comments

There is only one film worth seeing in the cinema this week. Avatar. Well, if we are to believe the hype anyway.

Personally, I had been rather apprehensive about this whole Avatar business. I can’t remember the last time a film promised so much (well… maybe Snakes on a Plane but that was really a different kind of promise). It’s been 12 years since James Cameron made a feature film… 12 years is a long time. Of course that film was the highest grossing movie of all time ($1.8 billion worldwide, just so you don’t have to look it up)… but then again, not everyone looks back kindly on Titanic. I actually liked and still like Titanic, but the idea of Titanic in space with a load of blue monkeys? Uh… I just wasn’t so sure about that. And of course Cameron also directed Terminator, Aliens and True Lies. All great films but I just don’t know how this all fits together.. what kind of films does James Cameron do? What kind of film was Avatar going to be? And there’s so much riding on Avatar – Cameron’s reputation of course, but the way it’s being sold, the future of 3D cinema as well. This film is supposed to push 3D out of kids films and horror and into the mainstream. It was too much, too puzzling, I just couldn’t get behind this film wholehartedly.

I’m almost hesitant to tell you what I thought of it. I think you’d be better off if you go see it yourself first. Stop reading now if you haven’t seen it… or read on if you’ve seen it, or if you prefer to hearing other people’s opinions before you see a film… it’s up to you, just don’t say I didn’t warn you, but I do think it’s one that you might want to keep your ears and eyes closed about it beforehand.

If you are still reading on then I think Avatar is going to be a bit of a divisive one, particularly because I think there’s a chance it’ll draw in more than a few people who don’t watch movies a lot… I hope it does anyway. Which is not to say that I think people who don’t watch movies a lot will particularly love it or hate it. Some will and some won’t. I just mean that there’ll be more people talking about it than your average genre film. For example, I doubt My Bloody Valentine was particularly divisive. Not many people who don’t like horror would go to see such an obvious horror/slasher film so it’s not like there’d be many arguments about it. Avatar on the other hand is being sold very wide, wider than I think the genre/s fit. I’m not sure exactly what genre it is but it’s definitely being sold outside it.

Mind you, the genre is irrelevent in a way… I think everyone should see this film. Not everyone will like it but I definitely think everyone should see it. There will be people out there who just aren’t going to buy into the big blue aliens. There’ll be other people who just don’t like sci-fi. There’ll be sci-fi fans who aren’t happy because it’s not sci-fi enough… that doesn’t matter. The fact is, it looks amazing… let me say it again, AMAZING. I could go on with a few more superlative adjectives but it’s not worth it, you’ll just think I sound nuts. Amazing I tells ya. You just have to go see it. It is worth it…. Even if your brain hates it your eyes will enjoy the feast. I liked the 3D in it too. It was used very effectively, there were a few “coming out of the screen at you” moments but a lot of it was giving depth to scenes, just making things look more realistic. It was different from the other 3D I’ve seen. Then again, it’s a very different film from the other 3D films out there.

Will it revolutionise cinema though? I don’t know. First of all, I don’t how much this kind of thing costs and let’s face it, big budget film making is all about the money. But also I don’t know how well it would work with other films. I can see it with the big summer blockbusters, certainly Transformers and Star Trek would benefit from it but I still don’t think that it’s worth it in every case. I guess it really depends on the maths…

In general though, it’s not a great film, it’s a good film but not a great one. Or at least I wouldn’t put it up there with the rest of Cameron’s work. I think in another review, I mentioned that I don’t particularly watch individual films in the context of a director’s overall work. And that’s true. But in this case it’s easier to reference his because… well… I’m just finding it difficult to find a genre to review it in. It’s not really a sci-fi film. Sure, it’s in space and there’s aliens all over the place, but it’s really just a normal drama set against the backdrop of an alien planet. But, you couldn’t compared it to something like… I dunno, Almost Famous or something. I was very much reminded of The Lord of the Rings trilogy watching it. It truly is an epic film. Cameron has created a whole world for us, so I can’t say it wasn’t great because it was a bit of a corny love story. It’s like saying The Lord of the Rings films are just three films about a very long walk. That’s just bollocks.

Ok anyway, this film has really got me waffling. Let’s get down to it. Avatar is a good film but it’s a bit mainstream for my taste. It’s not really entirely a straight up love story like Titanic but it’s more than half way there. The pacing is reasonable but it’s slightly long (about 2 hours 40 mins) and I found the music more than a little annoying (it’s comments like that that are the reason you should watch a film before reading the reviews – now when you watch it you might be listening out for the music and this isn’t a film where you should be worrying about the music… but anyway…). That said, it’s not like the music spoiled it for me, it was just annoying. Characterwise, it’s ok. I wouldn’t say they are well developed but it’s not that kind of film so it doesn’t matter. Acting is fine, a bit shaky in places and the best actors probably aren’t on screen for long enough – I’m pointing at Sigourney Weaver and Giovanni Ribisi here – but there’s nothing painful or shocking about it. The plot is predictable… but again, that’s just the type of film it is. Some films are predictable, it’s not a bad thing, it’s just a thing. It’s not awful though, it’s engaging enough and generally sustains itself across the 160 minutes or so.

All these complaints aside though it’s still a good film. In fact it’s almost a great film. I found myself immersed in this alien world and if a film can do that then it can’t be bad. It is thanks in no small part to the visual effects but also it’s pretty much a full realised world. The Na’vi are a distinct culture and they are a believable culture in my eyes given the world they inhabit.

Anyway I do urge you to go and see it if you haven’t already. It does look AMAZING and yes, it is worth it just for that. And do spend the money on seeing it in 3D. This kind of work deserves to be seen the way it was designed to be seen. Just don’t expect too much from the story. In that respect it’s competent but it’s not worthy of those superlative adjectives I didn’t use to describe the visual effects.

8.5/10