Review of The Walk (2015) by Phil P — 12 Oct 2015

"The carrots are cooked".

I'm not a fan of the audience narration approach to some movies. The only person I can stomach doing them is 'Scorsese' and it's not a case of perspective or the person doing the narration. It's more the points made.

In 'The Walk' I'm immediately greeted with a case of tell rather than show with 'Phileppe' (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) explaining what he is about to do, his ambitions and why he's obsessed with walking the twin towers. With something like this, narration makes sense but it's over-used. Tightrope walking is a visible thing no amount of talking can explain it. Naturally we do see the walk, the build - which is all wrapped up in something akin to a hiest movie (Iv'e never heard the word 'Accomplice' used so much before). But in the first half the narration mostly gets in the way - we can see 'Philippe' is passionate about it hearing it too is a little redundant.

One of the best aspects of the film is seeing his dream grow and come alive. It's clear he's driven no obstacle will get in the way. Even when there's threat of jail or being exposed but a nervous accomplice. Jospeh Gordon-Levvit's French accent is mostly great there are some iffy moments but it's his performance that stands-out, there's no doubt by now that he's a great actor.

Before the main attraction comes it feels all very mundane, the dream is there but there are so many things that seem - just - meandering. Explaining his meeting with 'Papa Rudy' (Ben Kingsley) and them showing it is more evidence of poor narration. It's all so very nice and well meaning to begin with there's no urgency - and despite Charlotte Le Bon's fine performance there her character has practically no impact on anything. Many times she's mentioned as the instigating this but this must all be behind closed doors because all I see is a love-interest.

The thing everyone wants to see doesn't disappoint - while I didn't see it in 3D (because I'm not a mug) the 'void' as he calls is tense. The sense of scale when he first steps down with the heightened noise of the balancing rope and the imaginary fog give a sense of Philippe's calmness. The tension after those first 2 walks dissipates - cleverly so- as you can feel the confidence he possess. it couldn't be more obvious what the stand-out moments is - predictable but 'Zemeckis' gives it a greater sense than just height. It's just as much about the walk itself as it is 'Philippe'. It's also in some small part a love letter to the twin towers themselves as 'Philippe' gives narration with them constantly sun light in the background, and as the film ends a long gazing look at them one last time.

Even though It felt at first like I was going to be in for a bland rather uninspiring ride 'The Walk' pulls it back when things really start. When we get out of France and into New York it's like an entirely different movie. There's a far fiercer fire in Philippe's eyes and determination on the surface. An injection of passion was needed and it gets it in full force. The highlight of the actual walk makes up for the slow start. I finally got the feeling of Philippe's reasons for doing this - he might have been saying it before in New York he shows it. I just wish it was from the beginning because overall it was a rather disappointing walk to the cinema for me.