Plot
In 1974, high-wire artist Philippe Petit recruits a team of people to help him realize his dream: to walk the the immense void between the World Trade Center towers.
Release Year: 2015
Rating: 8.5/10 (395 voted)
Critic's Score: 71/100
Director: Robert Zemeckis
Stars: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Charlotte Le Bon, Guillaume Baillargeon
Storyline
Twelve people have walked on the moon, but only one man - Philippe Petit (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) - has ever, or will ever, walk in the immense void between the World Trade Center towers. Guided by his real-life mentor, Papa Rudy (Ben Kingsley), and aided by an unlikely band of international recruits, Petit and his gang overcome long odds, betrayals, dissension and countless close calls to conceive and execute their mad plan. Robert Zemeckis, the director of such marvels as Forrest Gump, Cast Away, Back to the Future, Polar Express and Flight, again uses cutting edge technology in the service of an emotional, character-driven story. With innovative photorealistic techniques and IMAX 3D wizardry, The Walk is true big-screen cinema, a chance for moviegoers to viscerally experience the feeling of reaching the clouds. The film, a PG-rated, all-audience entertainment for moviegoers 8 to 80, unlike anything audiences have seen before, is a love letter to Paris and New York City in the 1970s, ...
Writers: Robert Zemeckis, Christopher Browne
Cast: Joseph Gordon-Levitt -
Philippe Petit
Guillaume Baillargeon -
Outdoor Café Man
Émilie Leclerc -
Outdoor Café Woman
Mark Trafford -
American Tourist
Inka Malovic -
Woman in Chalk Circle
Lucas Ramaciere -
Boy in Chalk Circle
Martin Lefebvre -
Gendarme #1
Philippe Bertrand -
Gendarme #2
Laurence Deschenes -
Young Girl with Candy
Patricia Tulasne -
Dental Office Receptionist
Jean-Robert Bourdage -
Dental Patient #1
Sylvie Lemay -
Dental Patient #2
Sasha Dominique -
Dental Patient #3
Soleyman Pierini -
Boy Petit
Jade Kindar-Martin -
Circus High Wire Performer
Trivia:
Joseph Gordon-Levitt had to wear blue contacts for the role of Philippe Petit. See more »
Quotes:
User Review
Author:
Rating: 9/10
This film starts out as a Disney fantasy, morphs into a heist film, and
ends as a miracle.
From the torch of the Statue of Liberty, Philippe Petit (Joseph Gordon-
Levitt) narrates the tale of his 1974 walk between the Twin Towers. He
asks us to "remember" 1974, so the narration is taking place some time
in the future. But Petit looks the same as he does during the story and
the Towers are still standing. Perhaps the narration is from some
moment outside of time and space, where the Towers stand and M. Petit
is forever young.
After a brief retelling of Petit's early life and how as a young street
performer he became enthralled with the dream of walking between the
Towers, the film details the gathering of accomplices to enable Petit
to carry out this thoroughly illegal enterprise. It's the sort of thing
done in caper classics like "The Sting" and "Rififi" as well as lighter
fare like "Ed Wood." All of this was done as well in the documentary
version of this tale, "Man on Wire."
But after all the preparation, there is the payoff which the
documentary could not offer, the recreation of Petit's feat. This
breath-taking, suspenseful, and ultimately exhilarating sequence will
become iconic in cinema history, among peers like Chaplin's dance of
the dinner rolls, the breakfast montage in "Citizen Kane," the
20-minute robbery in "Rififi," the musical space shuttle sequence in
"2001," the D-Day landing in "Saving Private Ryan," and any other you
care to include. Director Robert Zemeckis is an old hand at this sort
of thing. No living director, including Mr.Spielberg, could have
combined beauty and suspense in so perfect a blend that a viewer is
thrilled and scared to death at the same time to the point of praying
for the tension to end.
The acting is all-around excellent, with Mr. Gordon-Levitt declaiming
in French quite competently. Needless to say, the CGI and the 3D
effects are state of the art. The recreation of NYC is almost perfect.
(I don't think the Z train existed in the early 1970's.)
This film is not perfect, as the script is a bit trite, but on the
whole, "The Walk" is a masterpiece of its kind. Given the trend of the
Academy in recent years, Mr. Zemeckis should clear a spot in his trophy
case near his Oscar for "Forrest Gump." By early next year it's going
to have company.
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