The Ledge (2011)

It's complicated... I really like the directing, acting and writing but, there are issues with the way it's shot that I just can't deny. As much as I love the storytelling and the fantastic performance but, there are also certain scenes that didn't need to exist.

It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

Not the most reasonable. but fundamentals. shadows. and faith and trust and options. good performances. a touching story. and something more. a state who escapes from easy definitions. because it reminds known stories about sad love stories. and impressive thrillers. and good dramas. all in the admirable manner. the performance of Patrick Wilson is real great. maybe, because his character remains a gray one . Charlie Hunnam did a splendid job as a young man looking for sense to a life dominated by past. Christopher Gorhan gives the necessary spice to a story who, after the end of film, remains fresh and powerful. so, a special film. more Christian than you expect.

****SPOILERS**** It's after Shanna's Harris', Liv Tyler, boss hotel manager Gavin Nichols, Charlie Hunnam, was introduced to her born again Christian husband Joe, Patrick Wilson, the roof caved in for all three of them. It was Gavin's live-in roommate gay and HIV infected Chris, Chris Gorham, that had Joe feeling that the two were living in sin, not really knowing that Gavin in fact wasn't gay, and tried to get both of them to see the light by turning to God and accepting Jesus as their lord and savior before it was too late. What Joe was later to discover in that his born again wife Shanna was having an affair with Gavin that drove the poor man off the deep end and forced Gavin to either kill himself, by jumping of a 15 story building, or he'll murder his two timing wife instead!This insane scenario is played with Gavin on the ledge of a 15 story building with him threatening to jump and with Det. Hollis Lucetti, Terrence Howard, who has serious problems of his own back home pleading with Gavin not to do it. It was Hollis who found out that he couldn't have any children yet somehow had two of them realizing that they weren't his! They in fact were that of his younger-and more then willing to accommodate-brother Seymour whom his wife Consuela, Maxine Greco, had-if you can call it that-an affair with to make Hollis think that he was really their father!***SPOILERS***It all boils down to who Gavin or Tom in right in seeing the world for what it really is: A belief in a God or belief in doing you thing and not suffering the consensuses or as Gavin proudly calls himself in being a die in the wool God disbelieving atheist. In the end both ideas fall apart together with those, Joe & Gavin, expressing them losing out. Joe in breaking the very rules he's been following religiously since he kicked a drug drinking and gambling habit that destroyed his life and Gavin who was forced to choose between his life and that that of his lover Shanna. Who by him having an illicit affair with her put her, with a gun pointed to her head, in the position that she now finds herself in! As for Det. Lucetti after all this was over came back to his wife whom he just left and realized that what she did was if you can call it in his best interests. Since not having children would have only drove him to get committed or even worse blow his brains out!

The end was just sad. I would not say this movie shows a discussion of religion or philosophy or theology, more like a portrayal of how people screw up everything when they are not willing to reach out for help, stay open in order to understand, and take ownership of their own behavior. The only person who did that in the movie was Hollis and his life worked out fine. This story started out fine; I enjoyed the actors and, being a Christian myself, have met the psychos that claim to be Christians as an escape from the truth of their own twisted mentalities, such as Joe. The ended just plain sucked, had he been able to let loose of his own false believes and ask for help in the very beginning, all of them could have been saved. They missed saving him by a few minutes since just as he jumped they found Joe and Shana. It appears to me that Gavin has read the Bible and has an understand of what it said Old and New Testament but rejects the restrictions while Joe has picked out what he liked to create a fear structure to keep his own insanity under control. Shana is a cruel uncaring lady who cannot decide what she really wants to do and is using both of these men as she decides how to develop herself. She has purposely never been in control of her own behavior from her past to her present. From "enjoying" the high from drugs, and still looking for a high, as she points out mid movie that she gets a high from church. Her pimp told her what to do, and then her husband took the same roll. She made the picks all along to avoid taking control of herself. Even when she is supposed to start a life alone, she turns over to the one person who is happy and sane in the show, Chris. Chris is the only character in the mix that has a direction for his life and appears to be actually happy. I would have enjoyed the movie if the end were different, if they were able to catch Joe and save Gavin since I am sure Shana would have left and/or cheated on Gavin in the future anyways. So two unstable people that adhere so tightly to their false interpretations that it ruins both of them. Gavin could have seen Joe as a psycho and contacted the police right away instead of feeling his only option due to his own belief system was to jump. In which case, both of their actions showed that they adhered to a system that was concrete, simple, and only existed in themselves.

What really bothers me about "The Ledge" is that it is symptomatic of a major problem that the world has been creating for the last half century. We are in such a rush to dismantle the cultural institutions of marriage, sexuality, religion, and child rearing that we do not stop to consider why humans have spent thousands of years developing them. These institutions serve genetically programmed needs in humans. Perhaps these needs could be better met with improved institutions, but we seem to be so intent on destroying them that we have provided nothing to fill the gap created by their demise. These voids spell nothing but disaster.