THE WALK

This dramatisation of Philippe Petit’s highwire wire walk across the towers of the World Trade Centre in 1974 is part bizarre heist movie, part “Christ, I can’t look” scenes of nausea-inducing vertigo. The third act is undeniably thrilling with some exhilarating heart-in-mouth wire-work sequences, but the problem is getting to it. The back story of Petit (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is fairly unengaging, and attempts to vitalise it with some Jean-Pierre Jeunet-style flourishes come off as cloying instead of charming. As the charsmatic, slightly arrogant Petit, Gordon-Levitt is a disappointment; more Pepé Le Peu than Alain Delon. The Wire isn’t terrible, but it is slightly redundant for anyone already familiar with the sublime Man On Wire (2008). Pas Mal.