The Walk (2015)

*** out of ****

Five or six years ago I watched a documentary called “Man on Wire” about Philippe Petit, the daredevil who in 1974 tightrope walked between roofs of the twin towers of the World Trade Center. I was transfixed by that film, especially the intrigue around the illegal stunt and how it was set up and executed. “The Walk” is an terrific dramatization of the man, Petit (played wonderfully by Joseph Gordon Levit) and his stunt.

Levit really shines as Petit, even faking a Parisian accent beautifully throughout the film. Like many daredevils, Petit was never in it for money but for the rush and the adulation. When the towers are being built he sees an artist's rendering of them in a magazine, and he becomes almost obsessed with the idea of a tightrope walk between them.

We see Petit as a youth learning his craft (not only as a wire walker but as an overall daredevil performer), particularly from an aging circus star, Papa Rudy (Ben Kingsley). Along the way he falls in love with Annie (Charlotte LeBon), who is attracted to his fearlessness and becomes his most ardent supporter. He also develops of a following of “accomplices” who help him set up his stunts.

And while all that is interesting, the film really takes off when they go to New York for “The Walk”. It very accurately follows the clandestine planning, spying and sneaking around the crews did to plan and then get onto the roofs of the towers on the fateful night. Dodging security, trying to string a heavy gauge wire across the 140 foot span and secure it, using two teams under tight deadlines, it plays out like a spy thriller and is every bit as absorbing. But then comes “the walk”.

It's no spoiler or secret that Petit makes it out on the wire. And this is where the film stops being interesting and starts being breathtaking. The recreation of the tower roofs coupled with the CGI of the walk itself is absolutely wondrous. The cinematography will blow your mind. I have absolutely no vertigo, but even I was a bit flip-floppy in the stomach from some of the views and angles you see of the 400 meter drop between the towers. Levit plays it all beautifully, with equal doses of Petit's joy and terror of what he was doing.

This is definitely a movie that gathers momentum. The early portions are enjoyable, but just enough to keep you wanting to see what happens. The middle portion is really fun, as they clandestinely try to get their stunt set up, but the final part of the film is just plain wonderful. Really a great achievement in movie making. Who cares that it isn't real – it surely looks real, and that's close enough for movie magic.