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PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
Man on a Ledge (Blu-ray) (2012)

Man on a Ledge (Blu-ray) (2012)

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Released 7-Jun-2012

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Thriller Main Menu Audio & Animation
Featurette-Making Of
Theatrical Trailer-with commentary!
Rating Rated M
Year Of Production 2012
Running Time 102:23 (Case: 111)
RSDL / Flipper Dual Layered Cast & Crew
Start Up Menu
Region Coding 4 Directed By Asger Leth
Studio
Distributor

Universal Sony
Starring Sam Worthington
Mandy Gonzalez
Barbara Marineau
J. Smith-Cameron
Anthony Mackie
Patrick Collins
Jamie Bell
Case Standard Blu-ray
RPI ? Music Henry Jackman


Video Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame None English DTS HD Master Audio 5.1
Widescreen Aspect Ratio 2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
16x9 Enhanced
Video Format 1080p
Original Aspect Ratio 2.35:1 Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles English for the Hearing Impaired Smoking No
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits Yes

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Plot Synopsis

     Sam Worthington is another Australian actor who is getting lots of work in Hollywood these days along with the likes of Ryan Kwanten, the Hemsworth brothers and obviously Hugh Jackman. I do not recall this film receiving a local box office release but it did take around $800,000 at the local box office. It stiffed pretty badly on opening in the US, making no. 112 of the worst wide opening films on box office mojo. It only took around $40m globally which is about the production budget. However, this does not mean it is necessarily a bad film. I actually quite enjoyed it as a popcorn movie for a relaxing evening at home.

     It is best to watch this film without knowing much about what is behind the things happening onscreen so I will only give you a short plot description including things we find out very early in the film. In NYC, an ex-cop who has recently escaped from prison, Nick Cassidy (Sam Worthington), checks into a hotel and after what appears to be a last breakfast makes his way out onto the ledge outside his room, 20 floors above the city streets. Cassidy was sentenced to 25 years in prison. Once people realise he is on the ledge and threatening to jump, he specifically requests a police negotiator, Detective Lydia Mercer (Elisabeth Banks) to negotiate with. She has recently been involved in another case, where someone ended up jumping. Is he really planning to jump, or is something else going on? Why did he want that specific detective? How do the other characters play a role in this including his younger brother, Joey (Jamie Bell), Joey's girlfriend, Angie (Genesis Rodriquez), Cassidy's ex-partner, Mikey (Anthony Mackie), the first cop on the scene, Det. Jack Dougherty (Ed Burns) and super rich jeweller and property developer, David Englander (Ed Harris)?

     If you are just feeling like an entertaining, B-grade thriller you could do worse than this film which is interesting especially if you don't go into it expecting too much or knowing that much about the plot. The acting is fine and the direction quite good by little known Asger Leth. This is certainly not a great film but does have an interesting and somewhat different premise. Some elements get a little silly at times like some of the ending and the stopping part way through a time sensitive heist to change clothes so that a good looking young actress’s physical assets can be shown off in lacy underwear followed by a leather cat suit. One interesting thing about the film is that they decided to film most of it on an actual ledge on top of a New York hotel with only some minor parts in a studio. This gives the film an air of more authenticity.

     If you go into this film just looking for some entertainment rather than cinematic genius it is worth your time.

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Transfer Quality

Video

     The video quality is very good.

     The feature is presented in a 2.35:1 aspect ratio which is the original aspect ratio. It is 1080p encoded using AVC.

     The picture is very sharp and clear throughout utilising the high definition format well. Colour is excellent.

     There are some minor artefacts including some minor shimmer and a little motion blur along with one spot of what looked like digital noise reduction at 64:00 on some wallpaper.

     There are subtitles available in English for the hearing impaired which are clear and easy to read.

     There are no obvious layer changes during playback.

Video Ratings Summary
Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     The audio quality is very good without being classed with the best of Blu-ray.

     This disc contains a English soundtrack in DTS-HD MA 5.1.

     Dialogue was mostly clear and easy to understand throughout.

     The music by Henry Jackman is good without standing out for either good or bad reasons.

     The surround speakers are used quite extensively for car chases, gunfights, explosions and other directional effects.

     The subwoofer was also well used supporting the actions scenes and music.

Audio Ratings Summary
Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Extras

     Small extras selection including one quite bizarre one.

Menu

     The menu included music and scenes plus allowing for scene selection.

The Ledge (15:10)

     Pretty standard EPK style making-of featuring interview snippets with cast and crew plus behind the scenes footage. Covers filming on the ledge and the difficulties involved along with casting, VFX and stunts. Quite interesting for this type of thing.

Theatrical Trailer with commentary by Elisabeth Banks (2:25)

     A slightly bizarre extra which is a trailer for the film with a wry commentary by Elisabeth Banks. Entertaining but a bit odd really.

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

    The Blu-ray seems to be the same globally except for minor soundtrack differences.

Summary

     A decent B-grade thriller with a silly ending.

     The video quality is very good.

     The audio quality is very good.

     The extras are minor and somewhat odd.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Daniel Bruce (Do you need a bio break?)
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Review Equipment
DVDSONY BDP-S760 Blu-ray, using HDMI output
DisplaySharp LC52LE820X Quattron 52" Full HD LED-LCD TV . Calibrated with Ultimate DVD Platinum. This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 1080p.
Audio DecoderBuilt into BD player. Calibrated with Ultimate DVD Platinum.
AmplificationPioneer VSX-511
SpeakersMonitor Audio Bronze 2 (Front), Bronze Centre & Bronze FX (Rears) + Sony SAW2500M Subwoofer

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