4.5 stars. Rated PG, for minor profanity and chaste nudity
By Derrick Bang • Originally published in The Davis Enterprise, 10.2.15
And I worried that this film
might be dull.
The saga of Philippe Petit’s
high-wire walk between the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers, in the summer of
1974? OK, granted; it was an amazingly audacious stunt, and an impressive
display of awesome dexterity and physical prowess. But how in the world could
that sustain a two-hour film?
 |
| Once they've become an item, Philippe Petit (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) shares his impossible, idealistic scheme with Annie (Charlotte Le Bon): to somehow run a cable between the two closest corners of New York's fabled Twin Towers, and then to embark on the most incredible — and dangerous — wire walk ever attempted. |
Silly me.
Director Robert Zemeckis’
exhilarating depiction of Petit’s bold feat is almost as exciting as the
historic walk itself. Cinematographer Dariusz Wolski’s breathtaking,
crystal-clear camera angles blend seamlessly with Kevin Baillie’s visual
effects, to put us “right there” at virtually impossible moments.
I haven’t been this dazzled by a
film’s visuals since Claudio Miranda’s Academy Award-winning work in 2012’s Life of Pi.
Wolski and Baillie also make
excellent use of their 3D effects, for which this film clearly was designed.
The dimensionality is integrated smoothly, often to enhance the sense of
vertigo — particularly during the third act — as we peer down from the top of
one of the towers. 3D cinematography hasn’t been used this well since Martin
Scorsese’s marvelous handling of the technology, in 2011’s Hugo.
Inevitably, whether at a circus
or elsewhere, we always watch wire-walkers from below; it simply isn’t possible
to do otherwise. But that’s precisely what Zemeckis and his team pull off: We
often experience Petit’s work from above — disorienting enough — or even as if
we’re standing alongside him.
Our rational minds insist that
what we’re watching couldn’t possibly be real, just as our hearts suggest otherwise.
Which is a reaction that Petit,
an impudent showman through and through, would both understand and encourage.
The riveting screenplay — by
Zemeckis and co-scripter Christopher Browne, based on Petit’s memoir To Reach
the Clouds — also contributes greatly to this film’s enthralling allure. Zemeckis
and Browne don’t treat this as “mere” build-up to a fleeting display of
athletic grace; it is, instead, one of cinema’s ultimate, clenched-knuckle heist
flicks, told with the panache and verbal flamboyance of a circus barker.
