LOS ANGELES — When building or releasing tension, whether across a steel cable or in a movie, pacing is everything. Wind it up too fast or release it without control, and you might snap the line — or blow the payoff.
Well, the payoff in The Walk is stupendous. Everything from your inner ear to your breathing and the palms of your hands is at the mercy of its vertiginous final act. In fact, it's such an effective takeover of your physiology that it would be folly to completely dismiss the over-earnest silliness that comes before.
Something about that first hour must have worked.
This seems to be the common knock on The Walk: The opening two acts, with Joseph Gordon-Levitt mugging and posing and burbling in a French accent and Dumb and Dumber wig as high-wire walker Philippe Petit, can't seem to decide what it wants to be. One moment it's all circusy mischief, with forced perspective and vibrant colors against black and white; the next, it's a serious character study, but one that only scratches at the surface of why Petit wanted to traverse the World Trade Center towers in the first place.
Neither mode ever quite works. It's all just a little too precious and hipster-annoying, right down to the '70s facial hair and pre-steampunk bigtop fashions. You look at your watch. Can we get to the good part now?
Deeper frustrations with the first two acts of The Walk can all be connected to James Marsh'sMan on Wire, a documentary that played more like a heist thriller and won the Academy Award in 2009 for Best Documentary Feature. Petit himself narrated that film, which was rich with photos and footage to propel the story along.
If you've seen Man on Wire, you'll recognize The Walk's voiceover narration style, most of its characters ... even a few of the establishing scenes, which were lifted right out of the doc and colorized and stylized for The Walk.
In part, this is because both Man on Wire and The Walk are based on Petit's book "To Reach the Clouds," and that's a good thing: Everything that happened between Petit and his squad of misfit accomplices getting their plan in motion and the moment he took his first steps is too fantastical for fiction.
So what, exactly, were Robert Zemeckis (Back to the Future, Flight) and Gordon-Levitt going to add here? Why make this movie in the first place?
The answer is not clear until Gordon-Levitt ascends the World Trade Center for the first time and, taking a few steps out onto an overhanging steel beam, looks down. From there, the story of Petit's 1974 high-wire "coup" (his word) grabs you by the ascot and doesn't let go. You realize that the thing you've been checking your watch for is almost here — and you're still not ready for it. Not at all.
IMAGE: SONY
This is where cinematographer Dariusz Wolski (the Pirates franchise, The Martian) takes over, showing us just enough of the behemoth buildings, the surrounding skyline — and yes, a few gulp-inducing glimpses 110 stories straight down — to get the viscera pulsing. There's nothing you can do but grip your chair and watch it play out. And, just as you think it's safe to breathe again, Petit has one last surprise in store. (It doesn't matter how well you know the story; your heart will still go into your throat when he pulls this one out from his sleeve.)
Suddenly, the thing you've been begging The Walk to do for more than an hour is well underway. He's out there — and now you just want him to go back in. As fast as possible, please. It's the same illusion of deep discomfort you feel in a dark haunted house or on a mammoth roller coaster, places whose magic lies as much in the anticipation as it does in the ride down. And this case, it's a loooong ride down.
Here's where it only seems fair to look at the beginning of The Walk in hindsight and wonder: Were they just winding us up for this the whole time? Was this entire film purpose-built to crank up the tension for the big payoff? If it was — and it sure didn't seem that way — it's a genius slight-of-hand trick. If it wasn't, who cares? It worked anyway.
Either way, the first half of The Walk is not nearly as insufferable as some are saying. Gordon-Levitt feels more like he's hosting the movie than acting in it, but his performance does eventually add up to something more than just a well-shot walk across a high-wire. And isn't it refreshing for an iffy film's end to ultimately redeem it, when we're so used to seeing things the other way around?
As with Gravity and Avatar, for the maximum experience, seek out The Walk in IMAX 3D. Any other format and you run the risk of wondering what the fuss was all about.
Another tip: Get there early, positioning yourself as close to dead-center as possible. Then put your activity tracker on silent, because that heart rate is going to spike to an alarming level.
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