The Walk 2015

Lindsey Bahr, Associated Press: The Walk serves its purpose by showing you something you've never seen before, from perspectives as impossible as the stunt itself. Zemeckis just chose for too long to luxuriate in the fantasy of it all, when the reality was more than enough. Read more

Richard Roeper, Chicago Sun-Times: The last 30 minutes or so are all about the walk. Dariusz Wolski's cinematography is beautiful... and Gordon-Levitt does some of his best acting when he's out on the wire and mostly silent, his face glowing from the sheer crazy joy he's feeling. Read more

Alex Pappademas, Grantland: For at least the duration of the 25-minute wire sequence, The Walk is a breathless, exhilarating moviegoing experience. It's just not much of a movie. Read more

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: Zemeckis finally delivers the goods in abundance in the section that really counts: A vertigo-inducing digital re-creation of Petit's famous walk back and forth between the towers. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: I'd love to say that I was delighted by Robert Zemeckis' "The Walk" from start to finish. But I can't. Not that I was disappointed. Simply underwhelmed. It just didn't click for me. Read more

Joe Neumaier, TIME Magazine: The Walk is a visionary high-wire act. Read more

Peter Debruge, Variety: A filmmaker with a gift for overcoming the seemingly impossible puts audiences in the place of the man who walked between the Twin Towers in this gripping human-interest story. Read more

A.A. Dowd, AV Club: It's when the walk portion of The Walk arrives that this unevenly scripted, fact-based thriller achieves its full potential. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: Zemeckis ... nearly sinks the film before redeeming it in spectacular fashion. Read more

Tom Russo, Boston Globe: These dizzying IMAX 3-D visuals truly are big-screen magic, taking us inside Petit's transcendent experience as he navigates his preternatural path, indulges his showman's flair, and - agh! - reclines to commune with the heavens. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: This delivers some frighteningly vertiginous moments once Petit steps off the South Tower into empty space, and Zemeckis wisely milks the climactic wire walk, which lasted 45 minutes and drew a crowd of breathless onlookers below, for all it's worth. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: The film gets better as it goes, and the last half-hour (especially in 3-D on an Imax screen) is nearly everything it should be: scary, visually momentous, meticulously realized. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: The walk itself is the film's central, and only, real achievement, but it's a doozy. Read more

Adam Graham, Detroit News: As it comes together, the film becomes just as much a tribute to those massive Towers as it is to Petit. Read more

Joe McGovern, Entertainment Weekly: The occasional hokum cannot cloud the stunning, incandescent craftsmanship of the movie's third act. Read more

Chris Vognar, Dallas Morning News: The line between gimmicky and magic can be mighty fine, but Robert Zemeckis masters it like a seasoned pro in The Walk. Read more

David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter: The film's payoff more than compensates for a lumbering setup, laden with cloying voiceover narration and strained whimsy. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: It would be swell if all of "The Walk" came together as beautifully as the computer effects do, but it would also be churlish not to appreciate what we do have. Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: The Walk has been made with the same genial spirit a judge used when he sentenced Petit to perform a free show for children in Central Park for his crime. This is a love letter to lunacy that lets you feel what it's like to tread where only gods dare. Read more

Elaine Teng, The New Republic: Even in its greatest moment, The Walk breaks the spell with an unnecessary narration about how Petit felt in that moment, how the sky looked to him, how a bird came soaring towards his head. Read more

Rafer Guzman, Newsday: A razzle-dazzle thriller with eye-popping visuals, white-knuckle tension and just the right note of melancholy. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: It is, as it should be, a slight, mischievous, light-footed film, full of imagery. Read more

Scott Tobias, NPR: Zemeckis throws all of the emphasis on the walk itself, which minimizes the film's annoyances and justifies the groundwork necessary for the big payoff. Read more

A.O. Scott, New York Times: You can't help but hold your breath and clutch the armrests when Philippe steps out into the sky. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: It may not get inside the head of its pole-balancing protagonist - it doesn't really even try - but Zemeckis' movie takes you skyward. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: It's two-thirds of a great film but the slow start and unremarkable first hour hold it back. Still, for those who buy into the precept that "good things are worth waiting for," The Walk unquestionably delivers. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: Expect the worst from the first half- that's before Philippe Petit (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) strings up a wire between the World Trade Center towers. But then, oh, baby, does this movie fly. Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: I was simply exhausted by Zemeckis' oppressive insistence that I was being told a valuable, thrilling and humorous story, and was having a good time. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: While it's clearly constructed with meticulous care, with the wire-walking scenes as breathtaking as CGI allows, it lacks a certain, well, je ne sais quoi. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: After two hours of "The Walk," I felt as if I'd walked the wire myself. Read more

Calvin Wilson, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Gordon-Levitt beguilingly captures Petit's irresistible charisma in a performance that completes his transition from indie-film favorite to big-budget star. Read more

David Sims, The Atlantic: Zemeckis's failing is his inattention to every other detail, but The Walk undeniably exists for its climax: one stunt it does manage to pull off flawlessly. Read more

Kate Taylor, Globe and Mail: The film limps through its first two acts, putting in time until the big moment. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: Somehow The Walk succeeds in spite of its immoderation, especially when the stunt is at hand - in 3D IMAX, no less - which is so often the way of Zemeckis movies. Read more

Dan Callahan, TheWrap: "'The Walk' is that rare movie that might please practically everyone, from viewers just looking for a thrill to those who might enjoy a story that sounds like a tall tale but winds up being discreetly poignant." Read more

Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out: Ultimately there's enough daredevil verve here to offset the pedestrian comedy undergirding it. Read more

Jim Slotek, Toronto Sun: The Walk becomes a first-rate caper movie, with a thrilling finish that can't help but move you (if you haven't covered your eyes). Read more

Brian Truitt, USA Today: For those who want to feel like they're 110 stories up and living in the clouds, Hollywood does its job conjuring movie magic with a breathtaking Walk to remember. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Village Voice: The Walk, in its last half at least, is a dazzling piece of work, particularly in 3-D; even so, its most luminous effect is an actor. Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: By some standards, this isn't much of a movie. But it is a hell of a monument. Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: "The Walk" satisfies as an absorbing yarn of authority-flouting adventure and as an example of stomach-flipping you-are-there-ness. The journey it offers viewers doesn't just span 140 feet, but also an ethereal, now-vanished, world. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: Then we're finally aloft, with the man on his wire, and Mr. Zemeckis and his colleagues lift their groundbound production into the realm of high art. Read more