On September 26, the 53rd annual New York Festival opened with the world premiere of “The Walk.” You may have heard about the movie — there are advertisements everywhere, at least in New York. If not, you probably know the story: On August 7, 1974, Philippe Petit strung a wire between the North and South towers of the World Trade Center with the intention of walking from one to the other. And walk he did, 1,350 feet in the air, back and forth, at one point sitting and then lying on the wire, provoking the ire of the police, who scuttled to the roofs of the towers after onlookers began crowding onto the street.Directed by Robert Zemeckis, of the “Back to the Future” trilogy and “Forest Gump” and many other movies, the film presents Petit’s high-wire stunt as an act of pure courage, a moment of grace achieved through self-will and unnatural determination. It’s a theme Zemeckis has returned to again and again — think of Forest Gump and his enduring love for Jenny or the husband stranded on a desert island in “Castaway,” who befriends a volleyball and stubbornly survives in the name of true love. Unabashedly romantic, even naïve, these films tap into the sentimentality inside us all, making it pour out of our tear ducts like syrup. Played by Joseph Gordon Levitt, Petit is annoyingly charming, a man-boy with a bad haircut. As a child, he is enchanted by the high-wire artists in the circus and eventually convinces Papa Rudy (Ben Kingsley), the patriarch of a tightrope-walking family, to teach him some of his secrets. Mentor, of course, is a stock character in myths like this one, of Petit’s heroic brilliance. Another is the girl whose love helps the hero reach his goal. That role is filled by Annie (Charlotte Le Bon), a beautiful troubadour whom Petit meets while earning money on the streets of Paris by doing small juggling tricks.When we’re introduced to Annie, she is singing Leonard Cohen songs for a small crowd in the Latin Quarter. Unfortunately, the film doesn’t know where to take her from there. She is a sidekick and support system to Petit’s egotist single-mindedly pursuing of his “dream.” But as a character, she could have done much more, showing the consequences of Petit’s tunnel vision, revealing the man behind the charming smile.Instead Zemeckis gives us a simpler and less-interesting story. It is told in bold strokes — big camera movements and compositions that complement the 3-D — but takes a while to get rolling. The first half of the film is all introduction and exposition. The director has no room to have fun until Petit arrives in New York and starts to put together the crew of misfits and stoners who will help him break into the World Trade Center. Then the film turns into a heist movie — the pace quickens, the camera movements become more fluid, the cuts sharper. We know where this all ends up, but that doesn’t take away the excitement.Coming only a few years after James Marsh’s documentary “Man on Wire,” which covered the same material in a less exciting and comparably sentimental way, “The Walk” can feel like a remake of a film we’ve already watched. It adds little to the narrative of Petit’s journey to his famous moment in the sky. But with that said, the final 30 minutes of the film are maybe the best that Blockbuster Hollywood has produced this year — expertly constructed, ratcheting up the tension slowly — even if they left me a little queasy. (A fear of heights plus 3-D glasses, who would have guessed?) Here Zemeckis finally shows his talent as a filmmaker and Gordon Levitt drops the charm. There are no illusions or tricks. It’s just a couple of guys on top of the tallest buildings in the world, watching, waiting as the clouds roll past their faces, one of them about to embark on the most daring stunt ever performed.
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