Directed by Robert Zemeckis (Back to the Future, Forrest Gump, Flight), The Walk is a love story. A love story between a madman and his wire.
This 3D, biographical film recounts Phillippe Petit’s ultimate “coup:” high wiring between the roofs of the newly built twin towers on Aug. 7, 1974. Played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt with a flawless French accent, Phillippe finds true love, friends, and apprenticeship as he traverses the thin wire between the Twin Towers in New York. The visual effects take 3D to the new level. You feel as if you’re on the wire with Phillippe, bending and dipping along the wire. But Phillippe also invites us to join his both thrilling and heartening voyage from France to New York City, and then across the towers.
The bedrock of the movie centers on the help Phillippe receives from friends along the way, and the character’s transformation from brash and unruly to graceful and peaceful. His accomplices—ranging from a singer/lover played by Charlotte Le Bon, a photographer portryaed by Clement Sibony, and other lunatics—help bring the impossible task to life. Tightrope mentor Papa Rudy represented by Ben Kingsley, turns the unrelenting French dreamer into an artist. Too soon though, the “carrots are cooked,” and the plan must proceed without all the proper preparations. The movie’s pace sets off an unbalanced foot and still never really comes off as real to the audience. We have to walk the wire whether we’re ready or not.
Zemeckis’ visual effects in The Walk are groundbreaking. The film seamlessly transports us from the classical, homey, laid-back aura of France to New York City’s speedy tempo. As the preparation for Phillippe’s stunt continues, the 3D effects drop the wire installments right to our faces—an effect so potent that the audience visibly flinches. The illegality of the act and the lumpy sweats of panic dripping down from the character’s faces races our heart rate.
Finally, when the time comes and Phillippe sets himself on the tightrope, the visual effects highlight the particular dangers and thrill of the walk. The audience can see the veins as his feet wrap and clamps around the tightrope. The rest of Manhattan under him goes still. The precision of New York City’s vast and wide landscaping is mind-blowing. The wind and clouds are turbulent and vivid. We can feel the height as Phillippe does.
But to our and New York’s astonishment, he does tricks—almost like dances (with his ballet shoe resembling wire walker shoes)—on the wire and goes back and forth, trying to tease the cops. Phillippe’s performance on the ropes is actually longer than expected. The 3D effects give us consistent thrills that simply can’t be comprehended through an ordinary story.
The 3D effects and Phillippe’s transformation as a character (finally feeling gratitude to the wire, building, and his supporters and audience atop the twin towers), make The Walk a spine-tingling and heartwarming movie.
Featured Image by Sony
