Review of The Walk

Review of The Walk written by Robert Zemeckis and Christopher Browne directed by Robert Zemeckis
Rating *****

I had planned to see this film when it first came out. I waited what seemed like a week or two at the most and it was gone. The movie got good reviews. I read a few early negative remarks about Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s French accent, but it didn’t bother me. I thought he nailed both the accent and the essence of the character he was portraying. The Walk is the true story of Frenchman Philippe Petitt, who in 1974 strung a wire between the World Trade Towers and crossed not once but numerous times before giving himself up to the police.

I saw the documentary Man on Wire before seeing this film, so I knew the story going in. The question was how was Robert Zemeckis going to tell it. I thought he came up with a clever device by having Joseph Gordon-Levitt narrate the film while standing on the observation platform of the Statue of Liberty with the World Trade Towers in the background. The major plot points from the true story are all there: the preparations, putting together his less than ideal team of co-conspirators, the inside man, the accident with the nail. The hire-walk itself is expertly recreated. I would have loved to see it in 3D.

I highly recommend that you watch this along with the documentary. It doesn’t matter which you watch first. You’ll enjoy both equally.

I knocked Robert Zemeckis for the film Flight, which I didn’t like for a lot of reasons related to its technical inaccuracies. He has redeemed himself with this well crafted film. Add this one to your must watch list.