Robert Zemeckis isn’t so much a filmmaker as he is a daredevil showman, one who just happens to work in the medium of film. His movies have dared audiences to believe that a Delorean could fly, that a cartoon could kiss Bob Hoskins and that Tom Hanks really shook hands with John F. Kennedy, Jr… and at his best, these visual effects were so seamless, and the characters were so engaging, that we were willing to go along with the illusions.
I suspect that’s why Zemeckis’s repeated forays into motion-capture animation never had quite the same cultural impact as his live-action magic acts: we were always aware of the wires. Fortunately, that doesn’t really matter in his new motion picture showcase, The Walk, because it’s entirely about a man walking on wires. Zemeckis films this feat so beautifully that the only proper response is awe.
It’s fake of course. Joseph Gordon-Levitt didn’t really walk a metal line between the corners of the Twin Towers, but the person he’s playing certainly did. In 1974 a French high-wire artist named Philippe Petit snuck into the World Trade Center, completely illegally, and stretched his equipment between the two highest buildings in the world. Then he walked between them, over and over again, amazing the crowds to such an extent that nobody – apparently – took their eyes off of Petit long enough to turn on a video camera.
It is that tragedy, that the high-wire walk itself was only recorded in still photographs, that makes The Walk feel necessary, even in a world where the Oscar-winning 2008 documentary Man on Wire still exists and is still amazing. Zemeckis’s version of these events likewise compares Petit’s plot to an old-fashioned heist, and plays thrillingly along those lines, but when the time comes to actually put on the show Zemeckis pulls out all of the stops and convinces us, once again, that his illusions are real, and that we are walking the wire with Petit.
Sure enough, the conclusion of The Walk is a wonder of suspense, visual effects, cinematography and 3D technology. The overwhelming feeling of vertigo that infects the audience could only be the work of a maestro… or rather, many of them. Sly performances, impeccable technical craftsmanship and a script that builds and builds gracefully and thrillingly to a showstopping finale all deserve equal credit. The movie should have concluded with everyone involved in the production taking a well-earned bow.
The Walk is the right kind of dramatization, putting the audience in the middle of an impossible situation that – it turns out – was possible all along, and pulled off by a charismatic maniac who charms us right along with his accomplices. Zemeckis has the best reason to work his magic in many years, and he rises to the challenge. It’s his best film in decades, and you should run, not walk, to the biggest theater possible and see it for yourself.
Images via Sony Pictures
William Bibbiani (everyone calls him ‘Bibbs’) is Crave’s film content editor and critic. You can hear him every week on The B-Movies Podcast and watch him on the weekly YouTube series Most Craved and What the Flick. Follow his rantings on Twitter at @WilliamBibbiani.
