Monday, October 19, 2015

Review of THE WALK: Breathtaking Brashness

October 18, 2015



Back in 2008, I was able to watch a documentary entitled "Man on Wire," directed by Phillip Marsh. Based on "To Reach the Clouds," the memoirs of French daredevil Philippe Petit, it told of the time when he crossed the gap between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City back in 1974 on a high wire. That film won the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature for that year.

One of the disappointments I recall about that amazing documentary was that there was no actual vintage film footage of Petit's epic WTC crossing itself. That big moment was only shown by way of dramatic still photographs. This year, "The Walk," a new feature film based on the same memoirs, will recreate the whole life story of Philippe Petit building up to that memorably historic walk.

It was 1974. Philippe Petit was a struggling street-wise juggler/high wire artist in Paris. When he comes across a magazine article about the newly-costructed World Trade Center in New York City, he made it his life dream project to lay a wire between the two towers and walk across it. He apprenticed with a noted circus highwire master, whom he affectionately called Papa Rudy. Together with his loyal friends Annie, Jean-Louis and Jeff, Petit planned and executed his daring caper painstakingly, by fair means or not. The film culminates in his thrilling and breathtaking crossing itself, 15 minutes of pure adrenaline rush 110 stories up in the sky.

A lot of the success of this film hung on the shoulders of Joseph Gordon-Levitt and his performance as Philippe Petit. At first I had my doubts, but as the film went along, Gordon-Levitt had us all hooked in Petit's delusional ambition with his delightful "French" charm. I read he actually learned how to walk wires in eight days, under the tutelage of Petit himself, which was impressive. Although everything he did in this film must have been done in front of a green screen just a few feet off the ground, Gordon-Levitt confidently convinces us that he was actually walking across all those high wires throughout the film. The balance of gritty determination and Zen calmness on his face during the final walk added so much to the thrill of that scene.

Ben Kingsley can really do anything with even the smallest roles. His Papa Rudy was only in a few scenes but all of these really made an impressive mark. Standing out among his accomplices were Charlotte Le Bon because of her character Annie's pretty face, and Cesar Domboy because of his character Jeff's fear of heights. 

As both Writer and Director of this film, Robert Zemeckis told the story of Petit with a childlike wonder, a quality of fantasy with which he also imbued his most famous films like "Forrest Gump" and "Back to the Future". It was this light and fanciful treatment of the material that made the film engaging and entertaining even for young viewers, despite the insane and illegal nature of the caper itself. Zemeckis is really a master of special effects in films. The sad fact that the real WTC towers are not really there anymore makes the visual effects of the walk in this film even more amazing and poignant.

Predictably, everyone will watch the film mainly for the titular walk itself. Zemeckis was able to create such palpable suspense from all those little bumps that happened on the night before, effectively building up the tension for the fateful walk itself. During the walk itself, it would be safe to assume that the whole audience hung on hardly breathing, with their hands tightly holding on to something or someone. We had butterflies in our tummies even if we only watched it in 2D. I can just imagine how much depth those scenes must have had when seen in 3D, or more so in 3D IMAX! 8/10. 


18 comments:

  1. "15 minutes of pure adrenaline rush 110 stories up in the sky."
    I can't imagine how this feels like. I'm curious with the 110 stories btw. ahahah

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  2. To be honest, I was not interested in this movie when I first saw the trailer. But I kept reading about it and I also like the cast. I'll make sure to watch it.

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  3. I don't know if I'm all that interested on this one. I've heard of the story it was based from, but I feel like it doesn't excite me enough.

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  4. So do I, ..I am no fan of this type of film, but my son is egging me to see this film. Magand araw talaga.

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  5. 15 minutes took jim yo croos the other building. I would have stood up on my sit if im watcjing that film. But yea.. i will watch the film today! Haha

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  6. I've read articles about Philippe Petit, and his hjourney is amazing. I'd love to see how JGL was able to pull it off like you said. It's a must see!

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  7. My legs would tremble if I watch this movie. I have acrophobia. Looking down from a third level of a mall scares me. But then again, I can always close my eyes during those scary scenes. I know it defeats the purpose of watching the movie. hehehe

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  8. The walk must have been really suspenseful. I can't imagine the trail of thoughts that goes through a man's mind in crossing something as death defying as this.

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  9. With you giving 8/10, I am reconsidering this. Haha I initially decided not to watch this one. haha plus, I got fear of heights. Although, I've already conquered it several times, but yeah, with this, I might just watch this one.

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  10. Looking at the poster and reading your post "15 minutes of pure adrenaline rush 110 stories up in the sky" I can totally relate both of them and can't imagine how it felt.

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  11. Looks really scary but as a movie? I wasn't interested when I saw this at the theater. But 8/10 made me rethink. I'll just wait for an online copy i guess.

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  12. Oh yes! I have head a bit about this movie. Its exciting and I am going to watch it since the rating you gave is quite high.

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  13. It must be so crazy watching this in 3D! My brother's been raving about this movie all week! :D

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  14. Gonna watch this too. One day! Haha... Have seen the trailer and know how it is based on true stories

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  15. I think I have to skip on this one. I am not too keen on watching it. Just not my genre of choice 😃

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  16. I think I have to skip on this one. I am not too keen on watching it. Just not my genre of choice 😃

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  17. The movie definitely has an interesting cast. From what you are saying, it is also interesting from the point of view of the plot, scenes, so I'll take it in consideration :)

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  18. Admittedly, I found the trailer for this quite boring. This is normally not my thing so if I run out of movies to watch, I might give this a shot.

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