On August 7th, 1974, French high-wire artist Philippe Petit walked between the twin towers of the newly completed World Trade Center in New York City. It was an act that would make headlines around the world and romanticise the structure for previously unimpressed New Yorkers. The feat has since been recounted in an award-winning children's book (Mordicai Gerstein's The Man Who Walked Between the Towers, 2003) and in James Marsh's Oscar-winning 2008 documentary Man on Wire.
Sad to report that where that chronicle was thrilling and deftly constructed, The Walk, a new dramatic feature, is really rather poor. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is a likeable and capable actor, but even he can't bring The Walk's awful, tyrannically twinkling voiceover to life. The film's insistence on half-baked Amélie-brand whimsy ensures we never get anything like decent characterisation or narrative. Secondary players, including Ben Kingsley's Papa Rudy, are cartoonish at best; others – random ill-defined sidekicks – leave no discernible impression whatsoever.
Too often, the screenplay inverts cinema’s golden rule: this is a “tell, don’t show” movie, wherein no action can be completed without unnecessary narration.
The Walk is not a good film, but it may be the greatest Imax film ever made. After a plodding prelude, the final 40 minutes provides us with everything 3D technology can be. Even rollercoaster junkies and hardy base-jumpers will find themselves watching from between their fingers The Walk's vertiginous drops.
It’s a pity these incredible set-pieces have an hour-and-a-half of “nothing to see here” attached. But they do still justify the inflated Imax admission price.
