Philippe Petit, a young French street performer, opens the film The Walk by describing his early onset passion for walking the wire. As his skills grow, so do his aspirations to express himself artistically. In accordance with his dreams to walk the highest wire ever before, the World Trade Towers are in the final stages of being built. The timing worked out perfectly. The charismatic Petit knows what he must do, go to New York and put his wire between the newly constructed buildings. Full of imagination and sometimes doubt, Petit inspires the audience to follow him in his passionate pursuit of what becomes an intriguing mix of art, defiance, and daredevil adventure.

Unlike most movies, The Walk continually flashes back to a setting where the narrator (also the main character Petit played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is speaking to us and recounting the story. The narrator effectively inspires us so that we need to see the walk nearly as much as Petit needs to accomplish it.

The Walk is an extremely artistic movie. There are black and white scenes where the wire is highlighted in red which emphasizes its importance to the story. The director, Robert Zemeckis, makes choices to face the camera up at the sky, or focus it way down below from atop the wire, giving the audience a feeling that we are actually seeing it through Petit’s eyes. The skyline of New York glistens, and colors are made extremely vibrant. The Twin Towers look so new and shiny we can almost feel them with our own touch. While artistic and heartwarming, the film also has moments of humor mixed with times of action and intensity. On a few occurrences, a scene will be really intense or action filled, but then becomes funny and light.  

This true story is both inspirational and involving. The story leads to a conclusion that is nothing short of gripping, and sometimes downright scary.  It is a well told and interesting story within a fun film, and a true must see for anyone who enjoys artistic yet engaging movies.