Review of The Walk (2015) by Francisco H — 09 Oct 2015

Midly gobsmacked. Strong kudos go to Robert Zemekis and Joseph Gordon-Levitt for this love letter to an era and to the twin towers. Gordon, as our French protagonist narrates the tale in insertions from the Statue of Liberty (Franco-American,.. get it). There is liveliness and love put into this film. And (spoiler alert), when our wire walker finishes a pass between the towers, the audience realizes that they have been holding their breath and feels their hearts pound.

My film geek salute goes to the DP. Dariusz Wolski. In large format 3D the film is glorious. Not just the clarity of every pore, but the masterful depth of focus that puts a bit of blur in the right places in cityscapes and intimate rooms. Normally the multitde of shtick (CG, selective color, looking up "through" paper, voice over narration etc) would seem like indulgent film school hackery, but Zemekis keeps a steady hand to the story. I doubt many have researched this tiny bit of history well, so I feel the indulgent hand of dramatic liberties. (perfect romance, accomplice with fear of heights, a cranky mentor, speaking English because he going to America), but I forgive them because as non-conformist as the characters are, the story telling is text book perfect. This is grade-A story telling, and the whole when put together is so much more than Gordon-Levitt's really good performance. Charlotte LeBon and Sir Ben Kingsley do solid support character work. The real show stealer is a longtime D-list actor and future star, playing the French-American character of JP, James Badge Dale.

In summary, the move is a wow. It will almost certainly get Wolski is his first cinematography Oscar nomination. It has a chance of getting Zemekis another nod. For my quibbles I wish the RT scale had a 4.9.