The Walk

THE WALK

Director : Robert Zemeckis

Year : 2015

Genre : Drama

Rating : ****1/2

 

In 2008, James Marsh's extraordinary Oscar winning documentary 'Man On Wire' told the incredible true story of Phillippe Petit, a young French tightrope walker who, in 1979, placed his wire between the two towers of the World Trade Center. Now in 2015, director Robert Zemeckis tells the more personal story of Petit in 'The Walk', one of the most visually astounding movies I have ever seen in the cinema. Starring Joseph Gordon Levitt as the plucky Petit, 'The Walk' not only reconstructs his potentially-suicidal walk between the towers but also traces the story back to the origins of Petit's love for the wire and his inspiration to perform one of the most unbelievable feats in human history. Utilising computer graphics to astounding effects, director Zemeckis eerily resurrects the World Trade Centre from it's grave and brings them back to life in a hauntingly beautiful manner. Allowing them to once again stand with defiant pride, they form the backdrop to one of the most harrowing, yet brilliant movies made this year. 

Levitt delivers an infectiously lovable performance as the courageous, yet slightly insane Petit who laughs in the face of death with gay aplomb while the supporting cast which includes Ben Kingsley, Charlotte Le Bon and Ben Schwartz all bring depth and humanity to their performances. However, 'The Walk' was made to show us the impossible and it certainly succeeds in doing so. I saw the film in stupendous IMAX 3D and not since 'Gravity' have I been so viscerally terrified in my cinema seat. Through the use of incredible VFX, Zemeckis places us directly on the wire with Petit and a huge amount of vertiginous scares are to be had in the final third of the film which chronicles the hallowed moment the movie was prophecising. For a large majority of the final half an hour of 'The Walk', I was gripping the edges of my seat quite hard indeed and it is all credit to Zemeckis and his production team who have managed to create a very real sense of awe-inspiring spectacle and horrifyingly real terror in equal measure. However, 'The Walk' is also one of the most life-affirming films you are likely to see in 2015 and while it may walk the tightrope of wobbly accents and certain narrative contrivances, the end result is not only a brilliantly thrilling piece of cinema but a beautifully poignant epitaph to the two towers themselves.