Man On A Ledge

Enjoyment of Man On A Ledge largely depends on whether you can suspend your disbelief from 21 storeys without it crashing to the ground. If you're prepared to go with the premise that marries Mexican stand-off tension with a reasonably inventive heist plot in which no twist is considered too silly for deployment then grab a bag of popcorn and join the ride.

The ledge-bound bloke in question is Nick (Sam Worthington), a cop who has - in one of many of scriptwriter Pablo F Fenjves' B movie choices - fallen from grace after stealing a diamond from rich businessman David Englander (Ed Harris on 'villain' duties so broad it's a shame he can't twirl a moustache).

Now Nick's on the outer window sill of a Manhattan hotel, the only question - for around five minutes - is whether he's got a death wish or just a desire to make the bad guy take a running jump. But the runtime shenanigans on the ledge, which see Nick vacillate between being frightened of falling off and leaping around the building as though he's a new-born mountain goat, while trying to keep cop Lydia (Elizabaeth Banks) occupied, are little more than set-dressing to the heist main event.

This takes place in a building next door, where a far more interesting character dynamic is created between Nick's brother Joey (Jamie Bell) and his girlfriend Angie (Genesis Rodriguez), who are bent on breaking into Englander's burglar-proof vault at the same time as seeing how many layers of clothing Angie can shed without actually becoming naked.

Late-stage contrivances leave the whole enterprise teetering on the brink but Asgar Leth's film, for the most part, wears its silliness on its sleeve and has enough tricks up there to hold the attention. Deft, daft and defiantly watchable.