‘The Walk’ Puts Audiences on Edge of Petit’s Wire-Walking Dream

You’re gonna make so much money, ‘ you know.

There have been verified reports of patrons vomiting during the last half hour of The Walk, director Robert Zemeckis’ big-budget take on Philippe Petit’s famed 1974 high-wire trek between Manhattan’s Twin Towers, a tale previously recounted in James Marsh’s Oscar-winning documentary Man on Wire. And I came across this story, and I thought, Well, this would be a natural idea for a movie that should be made in 3-D. “Even though it was a Frenchman, he was rooted in that American outlaw, dreamy-type thing that has to have this bigger-than-life tone”. “It has often been said that Mr. Petit taught New Yorkers to love the twin monoliths that were initially viewed as bland, arrogant interlopers on a cherished skyline”, wrote A.O. Scott of The New York Times. “I felt a little bit queasy”.

[Ann Hornaday reviews “The Walk”]. The story is part heist, as Petit and his accomplices must spy how to dodge guards, sneak gear onto the roof of the building, and rig a 450-pound wire between the towers before the sun comes up. More so, it had be a 3-D movie. Zemeckis keeps ratcheting up the tension until the wire is ready for Petit’s first step. This is a weakness of The Walk: Petit says that his feats are mostly mental, and yet we don’t get a sense of his doubts and fears beyond one or two moments.

Gordon-Leavitt’s so good in The Walk you’ll forget his movie career has been filled with more misses than hits. Unless you suffer from vertigo, in which case watching Petit in his element will reduce you to a gibbering wreck.

Zemeckis’ recreation of 70s New York, as seen from thousands of feet in the air, involved vast physical sets and meticulously researched computer wizardry. “Everything else is virtual”. During his training, his assistants violently shook his wire to prepare him for the sway. I mean, just insufferable. I love the way you light with LED lighting now. Narrator Stephen Fry, at one point, mentions that the on-screen desert scenarios are not unlike Jurassic Park, but they seemed to me far more reminiscent of Rango, and I applaud the filmmakers for not turning Tiny Giants 3D into a pandering, anthropomorphic shrug on a par with most of Disneynature’s recent releases… though they easily could have. That gets me up in the morning.

Indeed, for all its technical dazzle, “The Walk” had to succeed on emotional and psychological levels for viewers to lose themselves in the experience. It was an unbelievable, compelling story about this very fascinating character. I’d nearly recommend going into the theater 45 minutes into the movie, but that would be rude to the people who have to stand up to let you squeeze by. And you know what? “You have to use 3-D to enhance the moment if it’s a subtle one”. It’s such a great use of CGI, IMAX and 3D effects that it’s really best to see this film on an IMAX screen or at least at the theatre.

Maybe now, after spending decades of walking where very few even dream of setting foot, Petit and his legacy will cemented in its lofty place, for everyone to see. He planned it like a crime, and though his walk was interrupted by the arrival of the NYPD, who promptly arrested him once he’d finally agreed to get down off the rope, Petit was treated with indulgence by the courts, who must have reckoned he deserved it. And afterwards he would stay on in New York, and become a kind of adopted local hero. There’s a storm whipping up and an eerie premonition in the sudden appearance of a white bird that flutters above his head.

“On paper you can image how dry that must look”, Zemeckis said.

JGL: Philippe actually insisted that he be the first person to try and teach me to walk on the wire, and he doesn’t do anything halfway, this guy, so he orchestrated this really elaborate workshop where it was just me and him, all day long, for eight days straight.