In 1974, high-wire artist Philippe Petit recruits a team of people to help him realize his dream: to walk the immense void between the World Trade Center towers.In 1974, high-wire artist Philippe Petit recruits a team of people to help him realize his dream: to walk the immense void between the World Trade Center towers.In 1974, high-wire artist Philippe Petit recruits a team of people to help him realize his dream: to walk the immense void between the World Trade Center towers.
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I suppose this review is also for the people who were in New York during 9/11. As a survivor of 9/11, I couldn't help but cry at the end of the movie. Seeing the Twin Towers rising in all their glory, basking in the sunset and reminding us of their beauty that so many of us took for granted, brought back so many emotions for me. They were like old friends saying hello and goodbye one last time.
Thank you Zemeckis for telling a great story, making a beautiful movie and bringing back old friends to life!
If possible, go see it in IMAX! You won't regret it!
"The Walk" is a highly entertaining adventure based on a true story. The performances are great but the special effect of the crossing of Philippe is amazing. My vote is seven.
Title (Brazil): "A Travessia" ("The Crossing")
The basic story of The Walk is this: a French street performer becomes obsessed with hanging a high wire between the two Twin Towers and walking on it. He flies to New York, recruits a few people to help him, and after weeks of of planning, is ready to perform an impossible stunt that will be remembered forever. The script is very well written and the story comes across very nicely to the viewer. It focuses on all the right moments for the right amount of time, which means the pacing is generally good. My only problem arises in the beginning as I felt it was a little rushed. Character development is also not the finest, but it is enough to make the viewer care about the characters. Other than that the story was told in a very captivating way that left viewer on the edge of their seat.
The Walk is a visual treat, specifically the last part of the film. There are magnificent, swooping camera shots showing off the beautiful Twin Towers in all their glory and with IMAX 3D, the viewer feels like they are thousands of feet in the air on the high wire. There were multiple times in this movie where vertigo kicked in due to the crazy heights portrayed in the film. The cinematography really helps the viewer become immersed in the experience as there are so many memorable shots of the Twin Towers and views of New York City. The CGI used to create this wonderful experience looks insanely real and really makes one appreciate the beauty and height of the Twin Towers. When Philippe Petit is on the high wire, wind and distant traffic noises are added to the incredible CGI to enhance the feeling of being 110 stories up in the air and with moving camera angles, the experience is beautiful and realistic.
The acting in this movie is superb. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is amazing as Philippe Petit and really does a good job showing how insane Petit really was. Charlotte Le Bon also does a fine job portraying Petit's girlfriend, and Ben Kingsley gives a good performance as Petit's mentor. All the supporting cast give great performances as well.
Robert Zemeckis does an amazing job making this movie as intense and thrilling as possible. His direction really made this movie what it is; and it is visual spectacle told within a great story.
In the end, The Walk is a visually thrilling and intensely told masterpiece. It boast beautiful cinematography, flawless CGI, great acting and direction, and a captivating story. This is truly a movie to behold in IMAX 3D and one will come out of the theater feeling immensely satisfied with the experience. The Twin Towers were beautifully portrayed in this movie and made one appreciate their existence even more. I am proud to say that this is one of the best and most satisfying movie experiences of this year.
From the first moment we meet Petit talking to us from the top of the Statue of Liberty, and this story is about freedom if nothing else, we know we are in the presence of a man who has followed his dream and achieved it. To co-writers Zameckis and Christopher Browne must go praise for giving the Frenchmen poetic English in small doses, just enough to elevate the proceedings from nuts and bolts to heady ambition.
Those 15 minutes on the wire are as suspenseful as possible—a mark of the true auteur, who can make us worry for our hero even though we know he will survive (he does narrate after all, and some audience will remember Man on a Wire, the excellent doc from 2008). Because Zameckis knows his special effects, I was mesmerized by the shots from atop the towers to the street below. Although I don't like heights anyway, I had to look down every time in wonder at the scope of the danger to Petit.
While the Walk is about this extraordinary man, it is also a romantic eulogy to the towers, which arguably became favorites of New Yorkers after Petit's stunt. The "forever" pass to the top of the towers he receives as a reward from the city is painfully ironic considering 9/11. Because his feat was once in a lifetime, perhaps the passing of the towers reminds us that nothing lasts "forever."
Did you know
- TriviaPhilippe Petit personally trained Joseph Gordon-Levitt how to walk on a tightrope. When the training started, Petit predicted that Gordon-Levitt would need no more than eight days of training to be able to walk on a wire alone, which came true.
- GoofsWhen practicing the line shoot via bow and arrow in France, the distance needed is clearly marked and Phillipe dances in celebration when the arrow surpasses it. Not long thereafter - with the group in New York - Phillipe has to pull a press conference ruse to get that same distance information. Furthermore, even if he hadn't already made his calculations back in France, it is as simple as measuring the distance at the base.
- Quotes
[first lines]
Philippe Petit: "Why?" That is the question people ask me most. Pourquoi? Why? For what? Why do you walk on the wire? Why do you tempt fate? Why do you risk death. But, I don't think of it this way. I never even say this word, death. La mort. Yes of okay, I said it once, or maybe three times, just now... But watch, I *will* not say it again. Instead, I use the opposite word. Life. For me, to walk on the wire, this is life. C'est la vie.
Philippe Petit: [now standing in the torch of the Statue of Liberty] So, picture with me it's 1974, New York city, and I am in love with two buildings - two towers. Or as everyone in the world will calls them, the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. They call to me. These towers, they stir something inside of me, and they inspire in me a dream. My dream is to hang a high-wire between those twin towers, and *walk* on it! Of course, uh, this is impossible, not to mention, illegal. So, why attempt the impossible? Why follow your dream? But, I cannot answer this question why, not with words. But I can show you how i happened. And so, we must go back in time, and across the ocean, because my love affair with these beautiful towers did not begin in New York. In case you couldn't tell, I'm not from here. No, my story begins in another one of the world's most beautiful cities, se Paris.
- SoundtracksDouce Candy
Adaptation of "Sugar Sugar"
Written by Jeff Barry and Andy Kim
French lyrics by Ann Grégory
Performed by Claude François
Courtesy of Mercury Records France
Under license from Universal Music Enterprises
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Details
Box office
- Budget
- $35,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $10,137,502
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $1,560,299
- Oct 4, 2015
- Gross worldwide
- $61,181,942
- Runtime
- 2h 3m(123 min)
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.39 : 1