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Critics Consensus: The Walk attempts a tricky balancing act between thrilling visuals and fact-based drama -- and like its wire-walking protagonist, pulls it off with impressive élan.
Critic Consensus: The Walk attempts a tricky balancing act between thrilling visuals and fact-based drama -- and like its wire-walking protagonist, pulls it off with impressive élan.
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All Critics (256) | Top Critics (45) | Fresh (213) | Rotten (43) | DVD (1)
The Walk turns what is a relatively straightforward act - albeit a scarily placed one - into something stunning by restoring a sense of physicality to what's happening onscreen.
Zemeckis's failing is his inattention to every other detail, but The Walk undeniably exists for its climax: one stunt it does manage to pull off flawlessly.
It's two-thirds of a great film but the slow start and unremarkable first hour hold it back. Still, for those who buy into the precept that "good things are worth waiting for," The Walk unquestionably delivers.
The walk itself is the film's central, and only, real achievement, but it's a doozy.
For at least the duration of the 25-minute wire sequence, The Walk is a breathless, exhilarating moviegoing experience. It's just not much of a movie.
Even in its greatest moment, The Walk breaks the spell with an unnecessary narration about how Petit felt in that moment, how the sky looked to him, how a bird came soaring towards his head.
The first two thirds are well made and interesting enough on their own, but that climax easily ranks amongst the cinematic highlights of this year so far.
The 3D is used to impressive effect... but from the moment Joseph Gordon-Levitt opens his mouth to reveal an Allo Allo French accent, The Walk is going nowhere fast.
You may not rush out after the screening to learn to walk a tightrope but, it will leave you thinking everything is possible and it starts with a single step.
Suffer through those opening scenes, because once Petit and his accomplices arrive in New York and begin planning their "coup," The Walk becomes one of the most exciting things I've seen all year.
It has special effects and absolutely gorgeous imagery that sink your heart in Imax 3D
It doesn't matter that it's all trickery; the end result is totally convincing and thrillingly real, with the walk itself providing the most exciting yet exhausting cinema experience you'll have all year.
Most people have probably heard of Petite's walk between the Twin Towers, so the film doesn't shy away from having the protagonist narrate the entire story in a somewhat unexpectedly quirky way standing on the Statue of Liberty. Unfortunately even way before the big stunt, some of the surroundings seem oddly unreal and can easily be identified as special effect shots. Thankfully, no such thought crosses your mind during the dizzying finale. Sure, they may have added some complications here or there. but it's still wonderfully done. Overall maybe a bit too quirky at times, but the mind-blowing ending makes up for it.
Super Reviewer
Zemeckis displays his usual inventiveness with breathtaking visuals in 3D and stylish camera movements, offering us a nerve-wracking climax that should cause a heart attack on anyone afraid of heights, despite an unwelcome tendency towards corniness in the end.
Zemekis and Gordon Levitt endeavor to enliven the already substantive documentary Man On Wire (about Phillippe Petit's fabled wirewalk between the former Twin Towers) with the latest in modern tech cameras and a middling French accent. You'll be unimpressed until the central event occurs, after which you might need a place to sit down.
Robert Zemeckis' dazzling direction, cinematography and spectacle ultimately drives home this biopic. The Walk is an artful and cleverly planned story of its climatic sequence; paying homage to the artists and the structures it was executed upon. 4/5
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