The Walk Review
RYAN: The Walk is directed by Robert Zemeckis, my favorite director, so I may be a bit biased, but it’s justified because he is that good! His movies are gorgeous and meaningful, strong and crowd-pleasers. Contact is in my top 10, all time favorites, and he’s just the best.
CHUCK: He’s truly revolutionary in what he does. He has a signature style all of his movies are unique.
RYAN: He does different genres.
CHUCK: He’s groundbreaking. He comes from the “school of Spielberg.”
RYAN: And with The Walk, all of my high expectations were met. It’s true to form. All of the details I look forward to in his work are there. It’s so visually stunning. The beginning reminded me of Moulin Rouge a bit. There’s a great musicality to it, without being a musical; but the camera movement, the use of color… you could watch the first 20 minutes with the sound off and still be completely enthralled. There’s a romanticism and almost fairy tale quality to it. It’s a true story that feels like an adventure.
CHUCK: His ability to tell the story through that camera choreography is on point, pun intended.
RYAN: He uses a lot more visual effects than you realize. He’s subtle with it and yet there is so much that is digitally altered to enhance the moviegoing experience. We just watch things as an audience that we’ll have no idea took so much planning and care.
CHUCK: He’s known for that. But that it’s flawless and unnoticeable is when it works best and he does that so well. It’s done so well we just take it for granted. The 3D is hands down among the four best 3D films ever made: Life of Pi, Hugo, Gravity and this – are the four so far that the 3D truly is part of the story. The depth and dimension are integral to the way the story is told.
RYAN: I would add Avatar and Oz the Great and Powerful to the list. But yes, it’s some of the best 3D you’ll ever see. I would still enjoy this film but cannot recommend the 3D enough. It absolutely is, like, another character in the film. The climax in this film… I was shallow breathing! I was leaning over in my seat, trying to balance him. You’re standing on top of the World Trade Center, looking down. It’s cray. You’re on the wire with him. You feel like you could fall.
CHUCK: And it builds. You’re teased with the height about half way through but it’s not until the third act that you really get it served to you. I’d seen the documentary, Man on Wire, so I was at a bit of a dramatic disadvantage, knowing how it turns out, but it didn’t take away from my experience.
RYAN: There are always liberties taking with adaptation to screen. I haven’t yet seen that doc. I want to. But beginning, middle and end in this film, the story is outstanding. And the score blends so well but I also noticed it’s beauty at times. Alan Silvestri is amazing.
CHUCK: It soars. It envelopes you and pulls you into the world more.
RYAN: And the 70s period is beautifully brought to life in the makeup, hairstyles, costumes. It’s all so clean.
CHUCK: It’s organic, not over the top. You’re certainly brought back to the time.
RYAN: I love Joseph Gordon- Levitt and Charlotte Le Bon are both so great. She’s French-Canadian and wonderful and he does a pretty decent French accent, playing a Frenchman.
CHUCK: The whole supporting cast is great too. I think Joseph sounded perfect.
RYAN: I have to say, I can’t help that I thought many times about 9/11 while watching. I was living in New York at the time and saw those towers fall with my own eyes, from the rooftop pf my building and it’s something you can never forget. It’s bittersweet and a little haunting at times, seeing them in this movie. Those buildings were so majestic.
CHUCK: But it’s done so eloquently. The buildings are pristine, sparkly, brand new. This movie is like a love song to the towers and how gorgeous they were. And most of us never saw the tops of them and how cool they were. And by the time you saw them, they were already 25 years old.
RYAN: Also, I sometimes thought about the people who jumped out of the building on that day and seeing how far down they fell was freaky and devastating but the movie isn’t about that.
CHUCK: No this really honors Phillippe Petit’s story and those buildings.
RYAN: I could see this again right away. I will buy the 3D Blu-ray and I don’t even have a 3D TV yet. But I’m aspirational. I’m hoping there’s a great making-of featurette. Def see this in the theater on the biggest screen possible and in 3D!
