‘The Walk’ deserves high praise

The Walk is the Hollywoodized version of Philippe Petit’s legendary 45-minute high wire waltz between the two towers of the World Trade Center in August 1974. Joseph Gordon-Levitt stars.

Truthfully, I didn’t expect much. First of all, Levitt does a horrible French accent, and I’m thinking director and co-writer Robert Zemeckis probably could have found an actual French actor to take on the role of the egocentric Petit. Second, how can actors and a script top Man on Wire, the 2008 Oscar-winning documentary of Petit’s actual walk?

The real deal — it seems to me — trumps a docudrama. Though it won an Oscar and a zillion other documentary awards, Man on Wire didn’t rock my world that much either. It is — however — authentic. The Walk is not.

Accurate, yes. Authentic, no.

Man on Wire leaves the impression that Petit is a pandering-for-attention jerk. He’s arrogant and rude. But his daring feat — once Man on Wire gets there — dazzles. Though you know Petit survives and lives on, you chew your nails.

It’s tense stuff.

This is where Zemeckis scores major points. While writing Petit as a driven person, he just hints at the ego, and the focus is the daring, almost super spy-like skill it took to pull off the stunt. And the high wire effects and stunts put you on the top of the World Trade Center on Aug. 7, 1974, and have you on the edge of your seat.

But you know he doesn’t.

Now, that’s movie-making skill, and almost as great a feat as what Petit pulled off. By the way, Levitt learned to high wire walk from the master himself, and many of the scenes are actually him on a real wire. He just isn’t 1,368 feet off the cold, hard pavement of a New York City street.

If you can afford it, see this one in 3-D, and if possible, travel to a city with an IMAX.

This story was originally published October 8, 2015 at 6:00 AM with the headline "‘The Walk’ deserves high praise."