Mark Kermode reviews The Walk

Mark Kermode reviews The Walk. The true story of Philippe Petit, the high-wire artist who in 1974 walked the immense void between the two towers of the World Trade Center.
Please tell us what you think of the film -- or Mark’s review of the film below. We love to include your views on the show every Friday.
www.bbc.co.uk/5...
Fridays at 2pm on BBC 5 live.

[@thedarktowercometh9989]

"You kissed his feet😳" ....that made me laugh out loud 🤣 😂

[@raviShri2099]

I died laughing..

[@mindfulskills]

Wonderful review, Mr. Kermode. I will definitely watch your reviews from now on. Having said that, I saw The Walk last night and LOVED it! It was not only visceral, but genuinely poignant and moving. I HIGHLY recommend it!

[@rywilk]

Oh dear, why didn't they just use a French actor...

[@NickHunter]

exactly what I was thinking

[@zombiesquad3339]

For people complaining about the French accent, watch Man on Wire, he REALLY talks like that!

[@michaellhoover94]

He really does not. Petit's accent is much more consistent. Joseph Gordon-Levitt's Rs, vowel sounds, and some other stuff are all over the place. There are a ton of obviously American pronunciations in that clip just with a French accent overlayed on top of it.

[@ohthepeppers]

Levitt's accent is straight out of _Allo Allo_

[@MrWarners14]

This movie just became one of my all time favorites. Truly incredible.

[@rbdriftin]

Joseph Gordon Levitt with a terrible French accent... oh god.

[@digitalblasphemy1100]

I completely agree with everything he said. Maybe I'll cut a "fan edit" and just splice the wire walk into the documentary.

[@Luvie1980]

Sounds good, but Man on Wire did it for me. I love that movie.

[@opsin]

+Luvie1980 Yea, I don't get what that film didn't do for anyone. It seems that like foreign films needing to be remade, now documentaries aren't enough.

[@Luvie1980]

opsin Tell me about it. Man on Wire did the job, there is no need for another film about this, because hearing the story from Philippe Petit himself was good enough, and he is a great story teller.

[@richardvale335]

+Luvie1980 Didn't you watch and listen to the review? I have just come home from seeing the movie myself in 3D IMAX. The recreation on the walk itself is, without question, the most astonishing piece of CG I have ever seen. Stomach churning, exhausting to watch, just WOW. Nobody (I've heard) would disrespect the fabulous Man on Wire but the movie does give us something very special that the documentary could not. Anyway, there are countless examples of good quality dramatisations of well documented events, what's the big deal? What are you trying to say? I don't think you have thought through your criticism properly.

[@Luvie1980]

Richard Vale Yes I did smart ass. But I prefer Man on Wire because it is Philippe telling HIS story, not some filmmaker. I don't need to see a re-enactment of the walk, having Petit explain it and talk about the experience and seeing the photo of him on the wire is goo enough. Use your imagination, use some critical thinking!

[@alross4477]

you kissed his feet...

[@BilboB]

JGL sounds like Ben Stiller doing a french impression

[@WORLD8NSH5KNIGHT1]

One of the greatest films I have ever seen.

[@ntube7]

There's a lot more to this movie than JGL's accent and the walk at the end. It is moving, poignant, even magical - and above all (pun intended) inspiring.

[@AntoniosPapantoniou]

The Walk probably is Zemeckis' last great film. Kermode is right about the visceral feeling of the last scene, but it was much more than that. It managed to become a transcending, poetic experience.

[@Viktors633]

You kissed his feet.........yes.These two make me laugh,love kermodeandmayo.

[@ghostwhisper666]

I'm guessing Vincent Cassel wasn't available...

[@kevtb874]

It's a strong French accent but have you heard the real guy? He's the most Frenchy French French who ever Frenched!!

[@Somecrazyshish]

Have to agree with Mark on most points, I saw it in a completely empty theatre in 3D and I'm lucky it was empty as I ducked and hid under my fingers several times. The 3D is done superbly where it becomes unnoticeable and necessary to show the scope of the act. Despite all this it is a fun film and an inspirational film which is probably the reason Zemeckis chose to leave out the complex personal issues between characters and instead lets it focus on one man following his dream to achieve the impossible. Well worth a trip to the cinema.

[@DaBIONICLEFan]

Couldn't they have just got Jean Reno? I was grinning the whole time while listening to that French "accent".

[@WORLD8NSH5KNIGHT1]

+DaBIONICLEFan Jean Reno is about 60. Petit was 25 when he done this....

[@crispybug]

As a film it's a 5/10 at best, but Mark's description of the CGI recreation of the high wire walk as. "visceral and then you some". is spot on! I'm alright at heights but there were moments of the walk that made my testicles shrivel !!

[@forstefter35]

"and his father smelled of elder-berries..."

[@cognissonance1162]

shoulda kissed the tip

[@premasru]

Mark felt some respect and humility. Go and live in India, you'll understand the reference to kissing feet.

[@228ss]

Mark has a feet fetish.

[@shieldknight9253]

deodorant on sale now :)

[@wasteoflifeandinternet9674]

+Shield Knight I like these comments

[@mastshke]

the world trade center looks amazing

[@deanwalker408]

I don't give a damn about Levitt's accent. This is a cinematic milestone. Zemeckis is a master of his craft and these are the greatest visual effects ever created. This is what cinema is capable of.

[@waffleweave]

I don't know if I can sit through two acts with that terrible French accent! I feel like maybe I should buy a ticket, then come in to the theater an hour into the film to just experience the final act.

[@zombiesquad3339]

+waffleweave The real man speaks like that. His French accent actually sounds a little "off" if you've heard it.

[@waffleweave]

+Zombie Squad good to know. Planning to watch Man on Wire first.

[@Slaphappy1975]

That french 'accent' is really distracting

[@Tuosma]

God damn it, I hadn't heard the storyy.

[@WORLD8NSH5KNIGHT1]

I would like to see some of you doing a better French accent?you get off my challenge if you are French....

[@MrMamooshka]

Get vertigo just thinking about this.

[@pricklyphlox]

Probably should have cast Vincent Cassell.

[@WORLD8NSH5KNIGHT1]

People talking about the 'terrible French accent' - if you are French, you may have a point but come on people, it wasn't that bad. A lot of French accents are almost caricatured and for an American I think he done ok. I don't think it was exaggerated. At least he tried- unlike Colin Farrell in Alexander.....

[@louisericketts6738]

I feel sick just hearing the description of the walk.

[@jeremyramsay1667]

I'm sure Mayo must've been told to belt up lately, far fewer petty interruptions.

[@mrdth1987]

I'm sorry just can't understand why someone would kiss someone's feet unless it's a sexual thing.

[@mrdth1987]

***** who indeed?

[@popc5245]

For you all things are sexual is it?

[@theF1oracle]

+Darren Turner I don't know if i should some Pulp Fiction lines in you or not

[@theresechristiansen9769]

it's a ancient and Asian ritual.

[@callmecal7057]

Can we talk about something that's so far gone unsaid? I find Joseph Gordon-Levitt mind-numbingly, soul-suckingly BORING. His face never flickers an inch, he's been at the heart of some of my favourite films, and yet every second I watch him, I experience a constant cold breeze of emotionless wasteland wind. He plays moments of intense drama with a dumb face and a glazed look and severs my connection to a good story with every close-up of him I experience. He was good in Looper, and perhaps intermittently in Lincoln, but does no one else find him for the most part stiff, cold and inexpressive?

[@kostasapovalov4213]

+Callum Raybould Yeah, he is not the most inspired actor. And it's wasn't the most inspiring film either. And the subject of the film is just plain silly - It's a man, walking high wire to show off. Did he achieve much? Helped people? Advanced the science? Would the world be different if the guy never existed?

[@callmecal7057]

Perfect casting for Joseph Boredom Levitt then ;)

[@kostasapovalov4213]

:)))

[@kostasapovalov4213]

+killboggins He did indeed. Us ,people we are very strange lot. When somebody dies from overdose, we consider him a failure. When somebody dies climbing a mountain, he is hero and an inspiration to others. Both were just trying to get high (no pun intended) in their own way, egotism the driving force. Both achievements are mostly irrelevant to other people.

[@kostasapovalov4213]

+Callum Raybould But maybe we are being too hard on the guy? He's sweet, and he's improving all the time . He can easily show two basic human emotions now. (It's just happened that I saw his earlier film called "Brick" yesterday, and brick-faced he was, all right, never as much as blinked). You'll see, he will play Hamlet one day.

[@JoeHoweLikesCustard]

that accent...

[@jamescapel6492]

"I wok on ze wire" good enough

[@datashat]

could they not find a french actor? ferfucksake

[@MrIliaskaraxalios]

Οοοοο

[@marksteven3534]

you kissed his feet, seriously?; thats just sick!

[@NickHunter]

I really want to see this but haven't got the bottle, just thinking about that downward view shreds my nerves completely lol