The Walk

Homage to a fallen monument. Another masterpiece from Zemeckis with a great story, breathtaking effects and a heart thumping inside. Gordon-Levitt brings Petit to life just fabulously. He chatters, recounts and there’s never a dull moment. Digifest, sure. Over-Americanized, sure. But if it all benefits the story, I don’t care. Let me introduce myself, my name is Philippe Petit and I’m a tightrope walker. (14/10/2015)

I had really mixed feelings. There are more than enough positive aspects as well as downright negative ones. The main positive is, of course, Gordon-Levitt, whom I like not only as an actor in many great roles, but also as a person, and this role fits him really well. As a tribute to the WTC, it’s also great. Plus, the second part of the movie, and especially the last 25 minutes, are perfection. However, there are a few things that I find it hard to see past. I don’t like the whole circus environment and everything around it. For me personally, it emits an atmosphere of artificiality and tackiness, which is how I felt about the movie itself. I don't seem to understand what exactly Zemeckis had in mind with the first hour of the movie. It just drags on unnecessarily. Dull and gray. It’s a shame, as the second part is in stark contrast to it. I also didn’t feel any actual fear or suspense. I wasn’t rooting for the main character much, because I was sure he would make it. Finally, what truly irritated me was a major part of the soundtrack. It was as if from a 70s detective series (the bad kind) and it completely ruined my experience of an otherwise great movie. 3.5 stars. (07/10/2015)

Paradoxically, Zemeckis exaggerates it with that elegance on a rope. Petit's high jinks are staged openly as a theater / myth - the protagonist's personality is a stepping stone to an eccentric expedition to a place where there is no death, only "splendor" and everything is dominated by the avantgarde pose of the artist as an acrobat, a man who is not afraid of the abyss, because death is only about not inviting the depths to a duel. It's simple and naive, but in defense of the film, let it be said that this is exactly what it is aiming to be. The regression into Petit's childhood is Burtonian poetic (and unfortunately quite exaggerated), the very performance of the magnificent "coup" is again stylized as an exuberant and exciting heist. Apart from Gravity, the moments on the rope are quite possibly the most significant thing you will experience at IMAX. Unfortunately, in time, everything else is flat, very flowery, and emotionally completely barren. The only perception that really exists in this film is the dizzying depth underfoot. Everything else is just an epic narrated shallowness, streams of lightly spoken words of the exhibiting principal (Robert and Joseph), their funny exuberant "accent", which unfortunately do not help the drama very much.*** 1/2. P.S. I'm looking forward to the analyses of the neo-formalist wing - the film seems to really want it. (29/09/2015)

The scenes on the wire are incredible, and the highlight of the movie is truly the transition between the towers of the World Trade Center. I felt dizzy in places, and I didn't even see the film in IMAX. However, as there are great moments in terms of visual effects, there are also flaws, such as the terrible American accents of the actors, the predictability of the story, which is essentially a boring plotline that only wins through the sheer determination of the human will and what it can achieve. (21/12/2015)

It's like I went back in time fifteen years. Robert Zemeckis tells the extraordinary story of an ordinary dreamer at his usual unpretentious pace, leading the main character to a breathtaking catharsis in the final moments. And yet it doesn't reach the quality of the similar Cast Away and Contact, mainly because this is exactly what I expect from him, and therefore the surprising or even seat-raising moment is missing. On the other hand, The Walk referenced in the movie's title is arresting, and shows in full force what could be sensed from the beginning: that Philippe Petit is not at all petite as artists go, but more with the heart of Le Petit Prince, far above us in his head and desires – in the heights that remain forbidden to mere mortals like us. (08/10/2015)