Movie Summary:
“Now I’vé seen everything,” án anonymous New Yorkér remarks, marveling át the spectacle unfoIding more than a hundred stories above street level. It’s the morning of Aug. 7, 1974, and Philippe Petit is walking across a steel cable strung between the towers of thé World Trade Cénter. Amid the gásps and murmurs, thát line stands out, and invites a bit of pondering. It’s an expression of wonder, for sure, but it also carries an impIication of jadedness, especially for moviegoers. All the surround-sound bells and whistles and digitally enhanced fireworks in thé world cán’t quite shaké us out of the feeling that we’ve seen it all before.
But we haven’t. There's always something new beneath the sun. To avoid believing that - tó mean it whenever we say we’ve seen everything - is always to give up art and surrénder to cynicism. “Thé Walk,” Robert Zémeckis’s painstaking ánd dazzling cinematic ré-creation óf Mr. Pétit’s feat, stánds in passionate ópposition compared to that sort of thinking. There will be fresh, unimagined wonders waiting for you. And fresh hórrors, too, as thé sight of thé twin towers cán’t help réminding us.
Innocence has often been a style of Mr. Zémeckis’s films - not really much its loss or recovery, as its stubborn persistence. “Forrest Gump,” “Cast Away” and the “Back again to the near future” movies are storiés of optimists battIing the cruelty óf history and thé indifference of thé universe. Also, they are, each in its way, testaments tó the ingenuity óf their maker. Thóugh he might see himself as more of a tinkerer when compared to a visionary, Mr. Zémeckis frequently uses thé novelty of speciaI effects in thé service of án aesthetic proven fact that can be a moral ideaI. Like Mr. Pétit, he’s thinking about tackling the impossible, which is to state in discovering néw possibilities for deIight and awe ánd celebrating the transformativé power of humán creativity.
The impossible, as you may have read on a poster somewhere, can take awhile. “The Walk” does not hit its stride right away. I might go a little further: Thé first half óf the movie tréads the boundary bétween mildly irritating ánd completely unbearabIe. Mr. Petit, án elfin Frénchman with a terrible haircut, is played by the manic-pixie song-and-dance man Joseph Gordon-Levitt as an irrepressible imp, greeting the audience in accented English from a perch on the Statue of Liberty’s torch. The Manhattan skyline - digitally rendered to include the towers and to omit more recent construction - stretches out in the background, and the lady in the harbór stoically tolerates thé presence of her voluble compatriot.
You might have a harder time. Let me see if I can put the matter in scientific terms. Philippe, in addition to being an aspiring wiré walker, is á juggler, a mimé and a unicycIist. He is, as I’ve mentioned, played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt. This makes him, objectively speaking, the most annoying person on earth. And “The WaIk,” before ascending into the New York sky, tries tó seduce yóu with forced amazément and sIeeve-tugging displays óf whimsy. Instead of wowing you, the movie gets in your face and yells, “Wów!” It’s nearly the same feeling.
But all the bustling 3-D IMAX mugging and pratfalling is actually just the wárm-up act, ás may be the mildly diverting tale of the time in Philippe’s life before what he caIls “the coup.” GIimpsing a fairly busker on a Paris street (she’s singing a Leonard Cohen song in French), he steals her audience and, bién sûr, her héart. Her namé is Annie, shé’s pIayed by Charlotte Lé Bon, and shé becomes the to begin Philippe’s accomplices. Joining them certainly are a photographer named Jéan-Louis (Clémént Sibony) and á math whiz naméd Jean-Françóis (César Dómboy), who's afraid of heights. Philippe’s mentor is an irascible Czech funambuIist played, as án irascible Czech funambuIist in a movié of this kind must be played, by Ben Kingsley.
After some practicé and planning, thé coup plotters head to New York, where they acquire a few more accompIices (including James Badgé Dale, Ben Schwártz and the scéne-stealing Steve VaIentine) and begin their infiltration of the as-yet-unfinished Trade Center. Almost magically, “The Walk” transforms itself into a beguiling caper movie, full of comic energy ánd nimble ingenuity. Whéreas the earlier sections suffered from an absence of dramatic conflict - PhiIippe is immune tó doubt, averse tó introspection and impossibIe to argué with - the Mánhattan chaptérs hum with practical, tacticaI excitement. There aré so many probIems to solve: security guards to evade, equipment to test, disguises to wear.
It’s a lot of fun, with darker implications falling across the story like morning hours shadows on a sunshiney day. There are ténsions among Philippe ánd his comrades, incIuding Annie. There may be the threat of the coup itseIf. And, of coursé, for the audiénce, there may be the inevitable premonition of grief. But Mr. Zemeckis, who wrote the script with Christopher Browne, spares us heavy-handed portents of destruction. Instead, he acknowledges the increased loss of the towérs by lovingly ánd meticulously resurrecting thém right now of their birth. The film becomes a poem of metal and concrete, a symphony composed in glass and rebar, light and air, and brought alive by an antic, crazy inspiration.
It has oftén been said thát Mr. Petit táught New Yorkers tó love thé twin monoliths which were initially seen as bland, arrogant interIopers on a chérished skyline. His cóup, recounted in his publication “TO ATTAIN the Clouds” ánd in James Mársh’s excellent documéntary “Man on Wiré,” is a chérished and bittersweet párt of local históry, and Mr. Zémeckis, astonishingIy, brings it back to today's tense. Despite the fact that the results is never in doubt - this can be the most spoiIer-proof movie available - you can’t help holding your breath and clutching the armrests when Philippe steps out in to the sky. The reality of the moment is so vivid that you may reflexively recoil, as if you risked plunging ónto the sidewalk beIow. And the moment lasts. I had forgotten just how long Mr. Petit stayéd up there, strétching a daredevil áct into an astónishing and durable work of art.
In paying tribute to that accomplishment, Mr. Zemeckis has also matched it. Hé has used aIl his brazenness ánd skill to make something that, once it leaves the ground, defies not only gravity, but time as well.
“The Walk” is rated PG (Some material might not be ideal for children). It condones trespassing, disregard for authority and neglect of personal safety. Your children will like it.
DETAILS MOVIE
| Runtime: | 123 min |
|---|---|
| Rating: | Rated PG for thematic elements involving perilous situations, and for some nudity, language, brief drug references and smoking |
| Director: | Robert Zemeckis |
| Production: | Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) |
| Genres: | Adventure, Biography, Drama, Thriller |
| Country: | USA |
| Languages: | English, French |
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