Seeing “The Walk” in Imax 3D is depth defying.
Not since the Martin Scorsese film “Hugo” has a movie deserved to be made and seen in these formats. “The Walk” looks as if it was grown inside the 3D ecosystem rather than having the effect imposed on it.
Director Robert Zemeckis is a long time digitally expressive guy and knows his way around special effects films like “Back to the Future” and “Forest Gump” that also tap into the audience’s emotional response system.
“The Walk,” about a French aerialist’s dream of walking a tightrope between the Twin Towers in 1984 1974 begins blandly enough with his quirky backstory as a Paris street juggler.
Here the effects illustrate a dramatic recreation of events you might find in a documentary, though the one this film is based on never resorted to the technique.
Things accelerate as he collects a team of colorful sidekicks to help him with the mechanics of the walk, which include sneaking into one of the towers before completion and using a bow and arrow to shoot the wire to the other side.
And it peaks with the money shot – the 20-minute walk itself whose stunning view of city and sky that may be too vertiginous for those with delicate constitutions. Joseph Gordon Levitt as the walker, narrates the film as he sits astride the statue of liberty in scenes that give the film the impish quality of a fairy tale.
But that the towers today only exist in our imagination make “The Walk” akin to omething holy.
3 stars ***
With: Joseph Gordon-Levitt Charlotte Le Bon, Ben Kingsley, Clement Sibony, Cesar Domboy, Mark Camacho, Steve Valentine, James Badge Dale, Ben Schwartz, Benedict Samuel.
Produced by Jack Rapke, Tom Rothman, Steve Starkey, Robert Zemeckis.
Written and directed by Robert Zemeckis.
Approximate running time: 123 minutes.
Rated PG, peril, language, drug references, smoking.
Tags: Joseph Gordon Levitt, The Walk, Zemeckis Posted by