Quartile rating: 7.5/10 · 1 rating
The story of French high-wire artist Philippe Petit's attempt to cross the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in 1974.
The Walk is a visually spectacular film anchored by Robert Zemeckis's bold use of 3D and IMAX cinematography to recreate Philippe Petit's legendary 1974 high-wire walk between the Twin Towers. The vertigo-inducing sequences atop the WTC are genuinely breathtaking and represent the film's clear standout achievement. Joseph Gordon-Levitt commits fully to the role with an exaggerated French accent and physicality, delivering a charming if somewhat theatrical performance. The plot follows a fairly conventional heist-style structure in its buildup, competent but not especially deep in character development. Novelty is moderate — the true story is inherently remarkable, but the narrative approach is fairly standard biopic-adventure fare, and the subject was also covered in the superior documentary Man on Wire. The ending, while emotionally resonant given the WTC's fate, wraps up neatly without much surprise.