Director Robert Zemeckis has produced some of America's most beloved films. Works like "Back to the Future" (1985) and "Forrest Gump" (1994) are the favorites of many. But even when viewing the world from 1,362 feet in the air, Zemeckis' latest work, "The Walk", doesn't reach the heights set by its predecessors.
"The Walk" follows the incredible true story of Philippe Petit (played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt), a tightrope walker from France who dreams of walking the distance between the Twin Towers in New York City just after their construction in 1974. After years of training, Petit assembles a team to assist him in executing his highly dangerous and illegal plan.
From the start, this film has been at a disadvantage because of its Oscar-winning counterpart, "Man on Wire" (2008), a documentary that also details Petit's unbelievable feat. Because the world is already well aware of this story, especially given how recently the documentary was released, there was little "The Walk" offered me in terms of revelation. I already knew the tale the film was going to tell me, so the challenge for Zemeckis was to fill in the gaps the documentary left behind and to do so as engagingly as possible.
However, unlike many biopics of recent memory, "The Walk" didn't take the gritty, tell-all approach to its subject's life, which is strange given the fact that Zemeckis' last film, "Flight" (2012) took that exact approach. Although the film isn't actually a true story, "Flight" has no reservations about its main character and never shies away from telling it like it is. "The Walk", on the other hand, feels sugarcoated and glossy. This is perhaps due to the fact that the film has a PG rating and targets the broadest audience possible, hoping to cash in on the Zemeckis fan boys that fell in love with "Forrest Gump" and "Cast Away" (2000). But, unlike those films, I walked away from Zemeckis' latest not knowing any more about Petit than when I had bought my ticket.
This is in part due to the film's impatience with its story. It seemed just as eager as I was to reach its centerpiece scene: the walk itself. The film breezes through Petit's journey up to that point, introducing characters without ever developing them and moving from place to place as quickly as each is mentioned. "The Walk" never actually sits down with Petit and gets into his head. Instead, all we get are statements of grandeur about how ridiculous the stunt will be and how crazy Petit must be to even think of doing such a thing; declarations that surely millions of other people have said both before and after the act.
But, to the film's credit, none of this takes away from the main event. Zemeckis' portrayal of Petit's walk between the two towers of the World Trade Center is spectacle incarnate. With seamless special effects and heights imposing enough to warrant vertigo, Zemeckis constructs the scene with a visual acumen not found in any other part of the film. The walk itself is so beautifully done, in fact, that it almost seems out of place. We learn the most about Petit from merely watching his walk, and as much of a compliment as that is for that one scene, it reflects poorly on the rest of the narrative.
All things considered, this is a real shame for Gordon-Levitt, who's role in the film is one potentially worthy of an Oscar, but because Zemeckis took the broad approach, Gordon-Levitt wasn't given enough room to really break ground with the character. His performance ends up being one of exhibition, not depth.
Perhaps "The Walk" isn't as good as it could've been because it tells a story that has already been told, or maybe it's all on Zemeckis. Had a different director handled the material, maybe it would've had the same gripping attributes as "Man on Wire". Either way, what we're left with is a decent film overall that does justice to the achievement, but not the man behind it.
"The Walk" follows the incredible true story of Philippe Petit (played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt), a tightrope walker from France who dreams of walking the distance between the Twin Towers in New York City just after their construction in 1974. After years of training, Petit assembles a team to assist him in executing his highly dangerous and illegal plan.
From the start, this film has been at a disadvantage because of its Oscar-winning counterpart, "Man on Wire" (2008), a documentary that also details Petit's unbelievable feat. Because the world is already well aware of this story, especially given how recently the documentary was released, there was little "The Walk" offered me in terms of revelation. I already knew the tale the film was going to tell me, so the challenge for Zemeckis was to fill in the gaps the documentary left behind and to do so as engagingly as possible.
However, unlike many biopics of recent memory, "The Walk" didn't take the gritty, tell-all approach to its subject's life, which is strange given the fact that Zemeckis' last film, "Flight" (2012) took that exact approach. Although the film isn't actually a true story, "Flight" has no reservations about its main character and never shies away from telling it like it is. "The Walk", on the other hand, feels sugarcoated and glossy. This is perhaps due to the fact that the film has a PG rating and targets the broadest audience possible, hoping to cash in on the Zemeckis fan boys that fell in love with "Forrest Gump" and "Cast Away" (2000). But, unlike those films, I walked away from Zemeckis' latest not knowing any more about Petit than when I had bought my ticket.
This is in part due to the film's impatience with its story. It seemed just as eager as I was to reach its centerpiece scene: the walk itself. The film breezes through Petit's journey up to that point, introducing characters without ever developing them and moving from place to place as quickly as each is mentioned. "The Walk" never actually sits down with Petit and gets into his head. Instead, all we get are statements of grandeur about how ridiculous the stunt will be and how crazy Petit must be to even think of doing such a thing; declarations that surely millions of other people have said both before and after the act.
But, to the film's credit, none of this takes away from the main event. Zemeckis' portrayal of Petit's walk between the two towers of the World Trade Center is spectacle incarnate. With seamless special effects and heights imposing enough to warrant vertigo, Zemeckis constructs the scene with a visual acumen not found in any other part of the film. The walk itself is so beautifully done, in fact, that it almost seems out of place. We learn the most about Petit from merely watching his walk, and as much of a compliment as that is for that one scene, it reflects poorly on the rest of the narrative.
All things considered, this is a real shame for Gordon-Levitt, who's role in the film is one potentially worthy of an Oscar, but because Zemeckis took the broad approach, Gordon-Levitt wasn't given enough room to really break ground with the character. His performance ends up being one of exhibition, not depth.
Perhaps "The Walk" isn't as good as it could've been because it tells a story that has already been told, or maybe it's all on Zemeckis. Had a different director handled the material, maybe it would've had the same gripping attributes as "Man on Wire". Either way, what we're left with is a decent film overall that does justice to the achievement, but not the man behind it.