The Ledge

Movie Title--The Ledge

Release Year-- 2011

Running Time-- 1 Hour and 41 Minutes

Production Company-- VIP Media Group Ltd

Director-- Matthew Chapman

Cast-- Charlie Hunnam, Terrence Howard, Liv Tyler, Patrick Wilson, Christopher Gorham


A detective is sent to a high rise building to talk down a young man that has been sent there by his lover's husband to contemplate a fateful decision.  The detective, having received some shocking news himself, is distracted by his own troubles but stays to listen to the story of how the young man ended up on the ledge and try to talk him down.

The movie opens to an industrial scene at dawn and brightens as the credits roll, signaling the day coming in; a new and fresh beginning.  Voices soon come in and the scene changes to Detective Hollis Lucetti talking nervously to a doctor and he finds out some very bad news.  Then it cuts to Gavin (Charlie Hunnam) climbing onto the ledge of a high rise building and glancing over the side.  Detective Hollis is sent to the site to talk Gavin down but very quickly realizes that Gavin has not climbed onto this ledge by his own doing but rather he has been forced out onto it.  Gavin tells Hollis that he was sent there to think and then at noon he is to jump.  

The movie then goes into a flashback where we meet the main players of our movie:  The gay roommate Chris (Christopher Gorham) and the married couple Shanna (Liv Tyler) and Joe Harris (Patrick Wilson).  Joe and Shanna come to Chris and Gavin's apartment to introduce themselves and invite them to dinner.  The dinner turns disastrous for Gavin when Joe, an unwavering christian, asks to pray for them.  Joe asks God to "forgive these two men for being abominable in his eyes", which offends Gavin, not because of what Joe says but the fact that Joe is judging the two of them "in God's eyes".  While Joe is an all believing type of christian, Gavin has strong beliefs and principles of his own but it has nothing to do with faith.  This will be the underlying tension between these two men throughout the rest of the movie.  New problems will present themselves but this God vs. no God argument will be at the heart of every problem for the rest of the movie.  

It is with this prayer at dinner that Gavin decides to "liberate" Shanna from her husband.  He gets friendlier with her and then starts making suggestive comments to her, trying to make sure that he is constantly on her mind.  After a while, the flirting and suggestive talk turns into an affair.  Shanna decides to leave Joe and that is what puts the wheels in motion, ending with Joe sending Gavin out on the ledge to make the biggest decision of his life.

The movie goes back and forth between Gavin and Hollis on the ledge to flashbacks, all while weaving Hollis' story in at the same time.  The scenes with Gavin and Hollis are meant to hurry the movie along, leaving the meatier parts of the story to the flashback scenes and also helping the viewer distinguish the time lapses in the story without having to actually portray it on screen.  This movie was distributed by IFC Films, so it has a very Indie feel to it, which I happen to be a fan of (although, sometimes this style of movie tends to turn people off) and it is also the kind of movie that I personally refer to as a "talkie" kind of film because there is no fighting, no car chases and no explosions; just people taking and arguing about their differences.

I found this movie when I was at the end of a six season "Sons of Anarchy" marathon; I was on a Charlie Hunnam high and was looking for my next fix.  The synopsis that I read for this movie was much shorter than the one that I wrote, so I decided to give it a try, since as I said previously, I was looking my next Charlie fix.  I thought the script was very well written and at times I found myself laughing at some of Hunnam's dialogue, while at other times not believing some of the things that were coming out of his mouth.  The tension and chemistry between Hunnam and Tyler is great; even when they are not talking to each other you can just feel the electricity hanging in the air between them.  That tension, coupled with the very overbearing nature of Wilson's character, helped to give the movie the right kind of push that a film of this type needs to have to be able to handle all the dialogue it has.

I suggest watching the end of the movie a second time after you have watched it all the way through the first time.  Start at 1 hour and 19 minutes when Joe invites Gavin into his apartment.  There is a very low buzzing sound as Joe starts to speak and suddenly at 1 hour and 21 minutes the music that has been building very slightly is evident.  Listen to the music as Joe is speaking, it helps to give a much deeper effect to his speech.  The music will continue to grow soft and then loud again, crescendoing at 1 hour and 29 minutes, then again at 1 hour and 31 minutes (after this scene, you can turn the movie off, the music will abruptly stop).  Actually being aware of the music during these scenes changes them slightly, causing them to be a bit more dramatic but it also makes you aware of how you are reacting to the scenes.  Being aware of the music  means being aware that your chest is tightening a little with dread as you try to predict the outcome that is going to befall these characters.

All in all, I think it was a pretty good movie but I don't think it is for everyone (rottentomatoes.com critics score gives is 14% YIKES!).  Go into this movie knowing that it may not exactly be the right kind of movie for you and Don't Forget the Popcorn!




P.S.--Not all of my synopsis and reviews will be this long but this movie has several different layers to it and it was hard not to review it without touching on everything.