Indie star Joseph Gordon-Levitt is back in the movie making game this season starting with the high-profiled The Walk. But the film has been underperforming at the box-office since last weekend.
The film’s slow weekend probably has more to do with the concurrent release of The Martian along with fans of the Philippe Petit documentary Man on Wire (2008) not feeling the need to rewatch the story scripted for theatrical actors, than lack of audience appeal.
Set in the years 1973 to 1975, Robert Zemeckis’ new motion picture stars Gordon-Levitt as Petit. He’s a juggler, bicyclist and high-wire artist who makes a living by performing odd and amusing acts for people on the streets of Paris. His dream, although illegal, is to walk on the highest high-wire possible at the time—between the World Trade Center Towers, under construction in Manhattan. Petit gets encouragement and help from his girlfriend Annie (Charlotte LeBon) along with his crew, including “accomplices” played by co-stars James Badge Dale and Ben Schwartz.
Director Zemeckis adds this to his string of classic films with impressive visuals such as Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) and Forrest Gump (1994). Here he uses the dizzying effects of IMAX-3D to the fullest—especially effective in a few jump scares that could send acrophobics running from the auditorium and even put funny feelings in the stomachs of those not usually afraid of heights.
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