The Ledge is a high concept movie in the truest sense of the word. It takes climbing movies like 127 Hours and Everest and reduces the story to little more than a concept. Fast and a little shoddily, Ford begins the ascent, and before long, the narrative stalls.
Kelly (Ashworth) and Sophie , two friends, are getting ready to climb the face of Mount Josh tries to rape Sophie while everyone else is distracted, and even though The Ledge wears its intentions on its sleeve, it's still all too clear where this is going. As things go downhill, the guys accidentally kill Sophie, which causes Kelly to flee up the mountain while the men pursue him. It drags out the story's inevitable conclusion for an hour, but that is essentially where it ends. There are few developments or other parties, and what is present is mostly made up of cliches.
Because fewer films follow the vertical route, the hurried setup is annoying and the reliance on horizontal story clichés is a competent bore.
The Characters: For the most part, the characters are as unremarkable as the plot, with no real character development and clunky backstories that are awkwardly revealed in between major events or through flashbacks.
Kelly is getting better after losing her boyfriend, who died while they were on a mountain trip just a year ago. Other than his alleged knowledge of climbing, which is narrated in voiceover, there are no details about the man himself. Although the lead character isn't particularly personable, she is skilled at what she came to do. She has no trouble climbing, but she makes foolish mistakes that cost her tools when she tries to hurry up her ascent, which doesn't need to be sped up because the guys are much less skilled than she is., one of Italy's biggest Dolomite Mountains. Any setting up of the environment is avoided, aside from the title of the movie and a "gearing up" montage that has nothing to do with what follows the opening credits. Before they have a chance, Josh (Lamb), Zach (Boyer), Reynolds (Welsh), and Taylor , who make up the frat pack, arrive to do the same, but not before bugging the girls.Josh most definitely comes from a college fraternity background because he always seeks out extra pleasure, even when he's on vacation. He wants to have a sexual encounter with Sophie despite being in some way engaged to a fiancée back home and attempting to seduce her with drugs and alcohol. Her rejection of his advances demonstrates Josh's domineering personality even more, as he uses threats to force his friends to assist him in pursuing the women or else they will be punished. Being rather one-note doesn't stop the character from being unlikeable, which comes naturally to him.
Zach and Taylor, who are both interchangeable posse members, are both in danger of being sexually violated by Josh in a less direct manner because, according to some revelations, they are/were just as violent as their leader. Although Reynolds is a stereotype of a bad guy, he is at least somewhat sympathetic, constantly challenging Josh's directives and occasionally attempting to aid Kelly in escaping.
Boyle was able to write some despicable antagonists with some finesse, but the vacuous protagonist doesn't gel with the amount of screen time she has, making her scenes difficult to sit through.The best part of The Ledge is the buildup to the initial violent outburst because Ford has campfire interaction scenes that gradually veer towards sexual content. When Josh pounces on Sophie, the film becomes more graphic without ever becoming explicit. As this occurs, a greater sense of inevitableness begins to set in (even though that feeling is present throughout the entire endeavor). The discussion of how to resolve the issue while Sophie's disfigured body is just below the frame makes for a good show.
Since there is no immediate danger to the fleeing female after Kelly successfully knocks Taylor off her heels at the start of her upward journey, climbing the mountain proves to be a difficult task. She continues to climb for minutes at a time, and since Kelly is far more skilled at freehand climbing than the guys are, it seems like the writers had to include a route for them to take so they could easily catch up to her and reach the top first. Ford doesn't make much of the climb, and stasis sets in after 30 minutes.
The Ledge almost completely stops once both groups arrive at a flat area because Kelly discovers a suspended tent directly beneath the men. Everyone then waits for the other to act while Josh yells at Kelly nonstop. The men's attempt to use a weighted bag to knock Kelly out of the tent, for example, creates a brief moment of suspense during this protracted sit-down, but as more improvised murders follow, the film loses credibility.
Escalation appears to be a secondary concern for the filmmakers in a film about moving upward. Although The Ledge has its share of intensely nerve-wracking moments, it's too formulaic and understated to keep viewers interested for very long.Being overly straightforward has its advantages because a small budget, like the one available to the creators of The Ledge, can be used to make the few locations and effects look as good as they possibly can, even though other areas of the decision-making process may still suffer.
The Ledge's shooting locations aren't listed anywhere (that I could find), but the results look great regardless of whether they were filmed on a set or in the real Dolomites, with the exception of one spot that is obviously made up. Despite the generally subpar camera work, the film does a good job of capturing its establishing shots and vistas and never detracts from the beauty of the natural world. There are occasionally some appalling greenscreen shots where the actors' and objects' lines are keyed out, but this only occurs a few times.
Boyle's dialogue is incredibly subpar. In terms of how cheesy or inhuman the speech patterns are, almost every line makes me groan. Josh's lines are tolerably demeaning and hypermasculine, but everyone else's will make viewers wish for Kelly's climb's silence. However, these scenes aren't safe either because her dead boyfriend's fortune cookie advice occasionally appears.
High-concept thrillers are challenging to execute, so I will defend The Ledge's creators. Ford and his team are by no means inept, but the script and setpieces they produced are just too uninteresting for the movie to be worth seeing.
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