Man on a Ledge (2012) - Neutered stars in insipid thriller

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Star faces and a major still of the titular suicide scenario with fish-eye effect make up this poster for Asger Leth's Man on a Ledge

 

An escaped convict gets out on a ledge on a tall hotel building in Manhattan - but why?

 

Man on a Ledge is written by Pablo F. Fenjves (A Case for Murder (1993, TV movie)) and directed by Asger Leth (Ghosts of Cité Soleil (2006, documentary)).

It is hard to care about mullet-haired Sam Worthington's (Bootmen (2000)) protagonist's plans in this dull, unexciting thriller. A random cast of stars are seemingly present to cash easy paychecks, and unfortunately lead Worthington is especially uninteresting.

The film has only insufficient and small bouts of weak action. Man on a Ledge is deeply forgettable and pointless. Its story is hard to follow as it plays out, simply because it is so facade-focused and vacuous. A major turkey.

 

Related post:

 

Asger Leth: Ghosts of Cité Soleil (2006, documentary) - A. Leth debuts with formidable documentary

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 42 mil. $

Box office: 47.6 mil. $

= Big flop (returned 1.13 times its cost)

[Man on a Ledge was released 26 January (Germany and 6 other markets) and runs 102 minutes. Shooting took place in New York around October 2010. The film opened #5, behind fellow new release The Grey, holdover hit Underworld: Awakening, new release One for the Money and holdover hit Red Tails, to an 8 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it left the top 5 in its 2nd weekend and grossed 18.6 mil. $ (39.1 % of the total gross. The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 3.9 mil. $ (9 %) and South Korea with 3.8 mil. $ (8 %). Roger Ebert gave the film a 2/4 star review, translating to a notch over this one. Leth returned with Hold On (2012). Worthington returned in Wrath of the Titans (2012). Man on a Ledge is rotten at 31 % with a 4.80/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Man on a Ledge?

The Meg (2018) - Moments of cruel fun enliven Turteltaub's monster shark feast

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A deliciously splashy color scheme and an eye-popping monster shark visual adorns this fine poster for Jon Turteltaub's The Meg

 

A scientist team gets ready to break through a mist that was believed to be the bottom of the Mariana Trench. But under this veil lies a previously unknown marine animal life, - including a megalodon, which escapes with them up into the open sea!

The Meg is written by Dean Georgaris (Clementine (2014, TV movie)), Jon Hoeber and Erich Hoeber (RED (2010, both)), adapting Steve Alten's (Domain (2001)) The Meg: A Novel of Deep Terror (1997), and directed by Jon Turteltaub (Think Big (1989)).

Jason Statham (Homefront (2013)) is the intensely looking man, who is brought to the rescue, when the shit hits the fan; apparently to spit wisecracks and participate in some of the year's worst dramatic scenes together with Li Bingbing's (Cat and Mouse (2003)) daughter in the film, who gets a lot of unnatural dialog to doodle around in here. The racially (demographically sales motivated) diversified team also consists of the science station's head engineer, played by Ruby Rose (Pitch Perfect 3 (2017)) who looks like a starving, punky supermodel... A lot of The Meg takes place in Asia, again for commercial reasons, as giant monster movies are especially big business there.

Rainn Wilson (Mom (2019-20)) is very good as a douchebag billionaire, who is awarded a death scene which is among the film's few highlights. A late in the film catastrophe scene on a crowded beach is pretty much the other highlight, and you can guess what happens.

We never feel anything for the protagonist or the extras in The Meg, which means that it never becomes exciting or terrifying in anything resembling the heights we have experienced in Jaws (1975), but it does cultivate its own brand of 'mean fun' without shame and scores some points there.

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 130 - 178 mil. $ (different reports)

Box office: 530.2 mil. $

= Box office success (returned between 2.97 - 4.07 times its cost)

[The Meg premiered 8 August (Indonesia, the Philippines) and runs 113 minutes. Disney held the rights until 1999 without coming up with a script they were satisfied with. New Line Cinema then developed the project but dropped it also. Eli Roth was hired to direct the eventual film but was 'replaced' due to 'creative differences'. Shooting took place in New Zealand and China from October 2016 - January 2017. The film opened #1 to a 45.4 mil. $ first weekend in North America, the biggest in both Turteltaub and Statham's careers, and it stayed in the top 5 for another 5 weekends (#2-#2-#2-#2-#4), grossing 145.4 mil. $ (27.4 % of the total gross). North America was the film's 2nd largest market; China beat it with a 153 mil. $ (28.9 %) gross. 3rd largest was Mexico with 21 mil. $ (4 %). 140 mil. $ were reportedly spent on marketing and prints. Sequel The Meg 2: The Trench is currently in development. The Meg is rotten at 45 % with a 5.30/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Meg?

The Last Stand (2013) - Arnold's entertaining action comeback

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+ Best Comeback of the Year: Arnold Schwarzenegger

Arnold Schwarzenegger defends the home front with Johnny Knoxville at his side on this humorous poster for Kim Jee-Woon's The Last Stand

The boss of a Mexican drug cartel escapes during a prison transfer in the US and heads South through the country in a modified sports car, leaving behind him a trail of death and destruction. But to cross the border, he will have to go through the small town Sommerton Junction...

 
The Last Stand is written by Andrew Knauer (Castle Falls (2021)) and directed by great South-Korean filmmaker Jee-woon Kim (Choyonghan kajok (1998)).

Despite a weak FBI-centered sub-plot led by the talented Forest Whitaker (The Last King of Scotland (2006)), The Last Stand works outstandingly as Arnold Schwarzenegger's  (Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)) return to the big screen after his years as governor of California in his first lead since the good Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003).
The film offers lots of fun as puns on western movie mythology and the lone gunman-cliché abound. It has all the self-irony that the comeback of the now 66 year-old action hero has to have. And which has been a trademark throughout his long, unique career.
The ending of the film has a visual effect, which looks a bit grotesque, but it doesn't change the fact that The Last Stand is a pretty excellent comeback for Arnold and a solid action comedy filled with fun and excitement and a good supporting cast of whom especially Luis Guzmán (Carlito's Way (1993)) and Peter Stormare (The Big Lebowski (1998)) are amusing and effective.

 

Related posts:

Kim Jee-Woon: 2013 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED VI]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED V]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]  
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess  

2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
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2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

I Saw the Devil/악마를 보았다/惡魔를 보았다 (Agmareul boatda) (2010) or, Cat and Mouse - Korean Style 

 

 

Watch a trailer for the movie here

Budget: 45 mil. $
Box office: 48.3 mil. $
= Huge flop (returned 1.07 times its cost)

[The Last Stand was released 12 January (Hong Kong, USA) and runs 105 minutes. Schwarzenegger was reportedly paid 5 mil. $ + 25 % of first dollar gross, which, if it pertains to the film's world gross, would mean that it netted him just over 17 mil. $, despite flopping badly. Shooting took place from October 2011 - February 2012 in New Mexico. General Motors reportedly supplied 14 vehicles for the film, getting two of them back in good shape after the shoot. The film opened #9 to a 6.2 mil. $ first weekend in North America where it stalled from then, grossing 12 mil. $ (24.8 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were China with 7.7 mil. $ (15.9 %) and Japan with 2.8 mil. $ (5.8 %). Kim returned with One Perfect Day (2013, video), The X (2013, short) and theatrically with The Age of Shadows/Mil-jeong (2016). Schwarzenegger returned in Escape Plan (2013); Johnny Knoxville (Nature Calls (2012)) in Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa (2013). The Last Stand is fresh at 61 % with a 5.70/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of The Last Stand?