From a completely film-making perspective, "The Walk" is a great movie. I don't know if director Robert Zemeckis could make anything less. One can easily tell the care that was put in to the entire experience. The problem? Will enough people care and identify with the story to make it a classic?
For a basic plot summary, this movie tells the true-life story of Phillippe Petit (Joseph Gordon- Levitt), whose life-long dream is to suspend a wire between the World Trade Center towers in NYC and walk across it. Coached by mentor Papa Rudy (Ben Kingsley) and supported by girlfriend Annie (Charlotte Le Bon), Phillippe leaves his French home and comes to America to begin preparations (which obviously must be done in stealth, as such a crazy stunt is quite illegal). He rounds up a team of associates and puts the plan into motion. Will he succeed in his life's passion? That will only be determined by the luck of the plan coming together (at long odds) and his mastery of the wire.
I'll start with the good things about this film:
-As mentioned, Zemeckis is a wonderful director. He could take drying paint and create some sort of narrative around it, if need be. -Levitt continues to shine as an actor, falling effortlessly into the charisma needed for the protagonist to be interesting enough to care about at all. His energy provides the emotional and adventurous fuel to the experience. -The visuals are impressive. I didn't see the film in 3-D, but even in 2-D the images (especially towards the end when the drama is heightened to its utmost) popped out at me.
Here's the reason (well, reasons, I guess) why I can only give this film 3 out of five stars:
-I wasn't alive when it happened. -I have no ties to New York City. -I haven't watched the documentary about the event. -I really don't have any appreciation for or knowledge of the subversive art community.
Basically, I went into the film a completely blank slate (no expectations one way or another). As a result, upon the conclusion of the viewing experience, the answer to the questions "why do I care about this" or "is this worthy of a big-screen adaptation" came up lacking. While the high- wire feat itself was the draw for me (and those scenes paid off beautifully), the bulk of the movie (the build-up) failed to strike too many chords with me. Simply put, either the movie didn't do quite enough to suck me in and make me care, or I don't have the right set of background experiences to make that happen. Either way, that's the reason why I can't proclaim this one from the rooftops or anything like that.
So, while "The Walk" was another tightly-directed Zemeckis drama, I felt (at least in my case) it was a bit too "niche" for me to truly appreciate its nuances. Perhaps enough others will appreciate them and this movie will be a success...perhaps not, and it will be more of a cult hit. Only time will tell.
For a basic plot summary, this movie tells the true-life story of Phillippe Petit (Joseph Gordon- Levitt), whose life-long dream is to suspend a wire between the World Trade Center towers in NYC and walk across it. Coached by mentor Papa Rudy (Ben Kingsley) and supported by girlfriend Annie (Charlotte Le Bon), Phillippe leaves his French home and comes to America to begin preparations (which obviously must be done in stealth, as such a crazy stunt is quite illegal). He rounds up a team of associates and puts the plan into motion. Will he succeed in his life's passion? That will only be determined by the luck of the plan coming together (at long odds) and his mastery of the wire.
I'll start with the good things about this film:
-As mentioned, Zemeckis is a wonderful director. He could take drying paint and create some sort of narrative around it, if need be. -Levitt continues to shine as an actor, falling effortlessly into the charisma needed for the protagonist to be interesting enough to care about at all. His energy provides the emotional and adventurous fuel to the experience. -The visuals are impressive. I didn't see the film in 3-D, but even in 2-D the images (especially towards the end when the drama is heightened to its utmost) popped out at me.
Here's the reason (well, reasons, I guess) why I can only give this film 3 out of five stars:
-I wasn't alive when it happened. -I have no ties to New York City. -I haven't watched the documentary about the event. -I really don't have any appreciation for or knowledge of the subversive art community.
Basically, I went into the film a completely blank slate (no expectations one way or another). As a result, upon the conclusion of the viewing experience, the answer to the questions "why do I care about this" or "is this worthy of a big-screen adaptation" came up lacking. While the high- wire feat itself was the draw for me (and those scenes paid off beautifully), the bulk of the movie (the build-up) failed to strike too many chords with me. Simply put, either the movie didn't do quite enough to suck me in and make me care, or I don't have the right set of background experiences to make that happen. Either way, that's the reason why I can't proclaim this one from the rooftops or anything like that.
So, while "The Walk" was another tightly-directed Zemeckis drama, I felt (at least in my case) it was a bit too "niche" for me to truly appreciate its nuances. Perhaps enough others will appreciate them and this movie will be a success...perhaps not, and it will be more of a cult hit. Only time will tell.