The Walk

Robert Zemeckis with his cunning mixture of passion, humor and visually exuberant energetic narration makes his new movie The Walk, an amazingly cheerful experience for the viewers. The real life story of French high-wire artist Philippe Petit, gets a pacy and absorbing treatment throughout and that keeps you very much interested in the movie.

Well the movie is based on Philippe Petit’s life. After saying adios to his parents who wanted him to live a normal life, Philippe went to various places and trained himself to be a good high-wire artist. The search for more complicated and amusing locations for his performance finally lead him to that times big wonder, the twin towers of the world trade center. How he pulled it off with the help of a bunch of men he met during the course is what the movie ultimately talking about.

It is the racy feel of the film and the vibrant narration technique they used which keeps the movie absorbing. There is no real unpredictability to the plot as we could see almost everything coming. But still Zemeckis manages to add intrigue in to the content and more interestingly the screenplay succeeds in creating scenes that shows us the madness of the central protagonist. The film emerges out as one’s passionate triumph to do what he likes and that last half an hour is emotionally and visually quite enticing.

Joseph Gordon Levitt had that grace, energy and madness along with a convincing French accent to do a fabulous portrayal of Philippe Petit. Ben Kingsley was also really charming as the strict teacher Papa Rudy. Charlotte Le Bon played the role of Annie nicely and the rest of the gang was also good.

Robert Zemeckis mixes it up nicely here to keep it real and at the same time passionate. From the camera movements to edit pattern the inherent rush of Philippe is there in all of them. The screenplay uses the back story of Philippe to build the journey up to the twin towers impressively. No unnecessary melodrama gets in the way and they always maintains that positivity in events. The practical difficulties were also shown. Visual effects should be given a standing ovation for having such a quality blend. Cinematography and edits are also quite impressive. In a way the speed is pepped up by the background score which plays a key part in creating the feel of the movie. 3D of course enhances the visual impact of the skywalk.

So to sum it up, The Walk is one cheerful and inspiring cinema. The last quarter or more of the runtime entertains you for sure and there is this overall pleasure of witnessing someone’s dream on screen. The rating is 4/5.