A documentary every bit as entertaining and rebellious as the real life figure at its center.
Comment
08/08/08
Man On Wire (2008)
100
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:141
Fresh:141
Rotten:0
Average Rating:8.4/10
Consensus: James Marsh's doc about artist Phililppe Petit's artful caper brings you every ounce of suspense that can be wrung from a man on a (suspended) wire.
Theatrical Release:Jul 25, 2008 Limited
Box Office: $2,600,296
Synopsis: James Marsh's dazzling, invigorating documentary MAN ON WIRE tells the story of a truly inspiring figure. In the early 1970s, a fiery young Frenchman named Philippe Petit wanted to shake up the... [More]
Director: James Marsh
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Reviews for Man On Wire
Beautifully put together, it is every bit as suspenseful as even the best Hollywood heist films, which is even more remarkable when you consider that we know, from the first frame, that Petit will survive.
08/08/08
Robert Zemeckis is developing a feature film based on Petit's life and high crimes. Good luck to all concerned, but I can't see how a fictionalized treatment could exceed the achievement of director James Marsh's documentary, which unfolds like a dream.
08/07/08
Top CriticOutrageously entertaining and perfectly profound.
08/05/08
A fascinating time capsule: a combination of talking-head interviews, actual footage, and re-creations that evokes a kinder, gentler world and provides insight into one of the most audacious stunts of the 20th century.
08/05/08
Top Critic...a must see movie, period.
08/04/08
Without bombast or pathos -- as gracefully as a tightrope walker -- Man on Wire brings back a time when the towers were still symbols of aspiration and possibility.
08/01/08
Cleverly assembled like a heist thriller, this film documents the 1974 wire-walking stunt between the twin towers of the World Trade Center. Not only does it have a remarkable resonance seven years after 9/11, but it's a cracking good story.
08/01/08
Cleverly assembled like a heist thriller, this film documents the 1974 wire-walking stunt between the twin towers of the World Trade Center. Not only does it have a remarkable resonance seven years after 9/11, but it's a cracking good story.
08/01/08
Marsh presents Petit as a kind of acrobatic Werner Herzog, talented, eccentric and perhaps slightly crazy.
08/01/08
James Marsh’s film is brilliantly achieved and assembled.
08/01/08
The astonishing tale, told like a well-paced heist movie, is illustrated by film footage and breathtaking photographs taken by the group.
08/01/08
Gripping stuff, for sure, but you may fall asleep waiting for that big walk, while the juicy stuff – a fall-out between Petit and his co-conspirators – is glossed over at the end.
08/01/08
Marsh’s film is an achievement in itself, beautifully constructed and carried off; and that’s only fitting when his subject epitomises the soul-lifting power of that perpetual human hunger to do the impossible.
08/01/08
Marsh ably captures the irresistible story of a visionary and a dreamer, a man who was defined by this one act. If there's one gripe, it's a shame there's no film footage of Petit conquering the towers.
08/01/08
It's an incredible story, and in Man on Wire, Marsh has made a documentary that's worthy of his walk.
08/01/08
I've watched this film four times and I still can't believe what he did or what I'm seeing. Each viewing intensifies the galvanising joy and the heartbreakingly unrepeatable nature of his walk.
08/01/08
What Marsh shows us is Petit's childlike innocence and almost transcendental faith: faith in himself, faith in his leadership abilities, faith that the escapade would be a success, and faith that he would not fall.
08/01/08
The attacks of 9/11 are never mentioned, and rightly so – this is a film about the life of the towers, not the death. But their inevitable destruction gives the movie a poignant weight, and reminds us of a time when they weren’t morbid geopolitical symbol
08/01/08
Much of Marsh's focus is on the practical details and build up of the caper, but the last third stretches out for poetic resonance.
07/31/08
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