Philippe Petit was a tightrope walker and mad dreamer from France whose walk between the Twin Towers injected a little magic into the hearts of millions back in 1974.
The process of planning the stunt and setting up across the newly developed buildings is already the subject of a documentary (go watch 2008’s Man On Wire), and a high-flying cinematic spectacle of a movie feels like just the right going next. ‘The Walk,’ director Robert Zemeckis’ latest visual feast of a movie, is at its best when you’re living out Petit’s high- wire walks (bring a barf bag if you see the movie in IMAX); a swelling, classically suspenseful thrill of a movie that stands as a testament to the power of “movie magic.” There. I said it.
Robert Zemeckis is a filmmaker who lets his technical skills and gifts for visual storytelling to the heavy lifting in his films, which has respectively elevated (Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, Back To The Future) or isolated (The Polar Express, A Christmas Carol) in his filmography. Here, the story of Philippe Petit (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) enlisting friends to help him break into – and walk across – the newly built Twin Towers is as base as they come, but it’s all in service of the film’s visuals. Not to say that the story structure is bad; a fact-based “and then this happened” drama that hits all the important notes. From training under Papa Rudy (Ben Kingsley) to enlisting his love Annie (Charlotte Le Bon), his photographer, and various American and French friends in helping him pull off his elaborate “coup,” everything is taken off the checklist.
As well as the cast work together, you didn’t come out to see an elaborate character study; you’re out here to see Joseph Gordon-Levitt walk some damn tightrope, which is a sight to behold. The climactic walk across the towers in particular is harrowing on multiple levels and worth the price of admission all by itself, but Dariusz Wolski’s cinematography bathes the world in beautiful colors and textures that come close to proving why 3D became a standard in movie theaters in the first place. Almost.
The Walk is this year’s Spectacle awards movie, an inoffensive, downright reverent telling of an inspiring story about a man crazy enough to dream his way halfway across the world and walk across two of the tallest building in the world at the time – and take you with him.
