The Walk

The Walk

This movie is ridiculous. It is not really a movie but a documentary masquerading as a movie. Philippe Petit, as played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, narrated the whole movie. In some shots he stands atop the Statue of Liberty’s torch with the Towers as background looking directly at the camera and addressing the audience.

This film has two gimmicks. The first is getting you to spend $21.00 the 3D version of the movie so you can experience all the special effects. The other is to try to induce vertigo from the high wire shots at the top of the towers. This is all done with green screens on sound lots. The effects are good but you know they are simply looking at graphics.

The movie is a biopic about Philippe Petit. Gordon-Levitt plays him like a strutting French cock with kinetic energy looking for the next challenge/high.  He is an e self-promoting egotist. He has no redeeming value and seeks only notoriety. He has an annoying French accent and wears a fright wig. There is nothing appealing about his character, the walk is solely for him.

Ben Kingsley is a father figure and mentor who gives him valuable advice about walking the wire. He has a generic east European accent which Sir Kingsley delivers flawlessly. Charlotte Le Bon is the love interest. She is lovely and she did the role well.

The center piece of the movie is the walk. Gordon-Levitt narrates every step as if he was broadcasting from some news desk. Every leathery foot step is magnified on the screen and the steel wire jutes out in 3D over the audience’s heads. The realism of the shoots from the top of the towers can cause vertigo (fear not, I was fine).

One big plus of the movie is nostalgia. It was great to see the towers in their glory. The walk was done in August 1974 so the Towers were not finished. How he and his crew got to the roof is extraordinary. I am certain these events are true, but this was such an innocent period before our world fell apart on 9 11.

A very strange movie, I cannot recommend it.

The Martian

The Martian

This movie has generated a lot of hype; does it live up to it? In my opinion not all the way. As a Ridely Scott movie it garners a certain level of prestige. He has directed big hits such as Blade Runner and Alien and some foul balls like Robin Hood and Exodus: Gods and Kings. In this nearly three hour, large parts are tedious. The film is a combination of Lost in Space and This Old House. Matt Damon’s character is marooned on Mars and to survive he has to improvise how to make dirt, water, plants and fix broken machinery. At one point he actually uses duct tape (man’s best friend) to fix a broken helmet. Tension in this movie is like a deflated tire and only towards the end is some pressure applied.  

There are big stars in this movie. Supporting Matt Damon are: Jessica Chastain, Kata Mara, Kristien Wiig, Chitwetel Edjiofor, Michael Pena and Jeff Daniels. No one broke any serious drama sweat. They portrayed a steely cold can do NASA attitude. This makes good copy for NOVA but not for drama. Even in life threatening situations Damon’s character is almost placid (recall Tom Hanks in Apollo 13, you could cut tension with a knife). There was light comedy which is a plus. To keep their PG rating they could not say the F word and had to mouth it.

Jessica Chastain was the cool commander who has some key parts towards the end. Kristien Wiig is the relations executive who seemed a bit out of her element. No funnies from her. The rest of the actors were pretty straight forward. Aside from Michal Pena I was not familiar with the rest of the crew. Jeff Danial’s plays the director of NASA as a stiff. He does it really well.

As with his other Ridley Scott films cinematography is rich and spectacular. The graphics were great and the rendering of the Mars’s surface is realistic. I am sure all the NASA paraphernalia is accurate. The duct tape was real.

The last few minutes has the best suspense of the whole movie. No, I will not say what happens. Are the last few minutes’ worth the whole movie? This is not Apollo 13 or even Gravity. The Martian is a feel good can do attitude movie. I know I am swimming against the tide of raves from the critiques with this review, so please make up your own mind as you should always do.