The Walk

Dir: Robert Zemeckis

2015

**

Philippe Petit's breath taking high-wire walk between New York's World Trade Centre Twin Towers was something almost forgotten until it became somewhat poignant, when the two large buildings where felled during the 9/11 terror attacks. Petit decided to perform the walk when he first learned about the tower's construction from a magazine he was reading in a dentist's waiting room in Paris. Determined and trained by one of the best circus performers in the world, Petit set about forming a group that would help him accomplish this impossible feat. He practiced first by walking across the two towers of Notre Dame. He also did an impressive crossing of the two towers at the end of the Sydney Harbour Bridge to a bemused but impressed crowd of onlookers. The Sydney Harbour Bridge crossing isn't in Robert Zemeckis though, I know about it because I watched James Marsh's brilliant feature documentary Man on Wire. It covers the ideas's inception all the way to its completion through interviews, film and photos. More importantly, was the input from Petit himself. Now Petit was an adviser on The Walk but it wasn't quite the same. Joseph Gordon-Levitt's performance is faultless, he even learned how to rope walk and spent a lot of time with the man himself but Petit is so full of energy and vitality, it just doesn't compare. Man on Wire covers everything, including the emotions now that the towers are no more. The Wire is a glossy half-truth with impressive special effects but not much else. I can understand why Zemeckis would want to make it, it's a great story but sometimes when you want to tell a real life story to its fullest, a documentary is the only way to go and that had already been done. If I'm being honest, I don't think the special effects were all that good either. I'm not sure what has happened to Zemeckis but his films were always great stories first and then special effect after. This just seemed like an excuse to show the twin towers again, knowing full well people would turn and look. The documentary wipes the floor with this 'based on a true story' dramatization of Petit's book and leaves it looking a little soulless in comparison. When a story is worth telling (and this one was) then it is worth telling properly. There was enough time to cover everything, Zemeckis just wasted it on attempts of emotional blackmail when he should have looked at the details. Hats off to Joseph Gordon-Levitt, he is worth watching the film for and the supporting cast are also strong, it's just there is a lot of thumbing about before the film gets to the crux of the idea, when in truth, there was so much more to tell.