The Walk - 4K Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

The Walk



Movie:
4K Video:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:


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Movie
There is something truly magnificent and unifying about watching a person of incredible talent pull off feats that boggle the imagination. We scream and cheer over a Basketball star who can pull off dunks and three pointers like a maestro. We gasp in awe and amazement at a musician whose fingers are dancing over the strings of his instruments, and we even clap in respect for the exotic sports fanatics who pull off death-defying feats because they can. That little bit of magic is what Robert Zemeckis pulls off with The Walk. A film that chronicles the true life story of Philippe Petit, a French tight rope walker who spanned the entirety of the famed twin trade towers back in 1974. A feat which was never replicated due to the extreme danger (and well, because the towers are no longer there anymore). The movie is intense, delightfully charming, and incredibly awe-inspiring as you watch Philippe perform probably the greatest tight rope act the world has ever seen.

The movie takes its subject seriously, but allows Joseph Gordon-Levitt to keep the mood light and airy with a charming narration throughout the whole film. While we know about Philippe’s famous walking act, JGL (with a very heavy French accent) takes us back to a time when Philippe was not nearly so famous. Born in an average French family, Philippe was a normal boy who just so happened to fall in love with a group of tightrope walkers in a local circus. Fascinated and eager to learn more, the young boy catches the eye of Papa Rudy (Ben Kinsley), the patriarch of the circus tight rope walkers. Soon, the young man is going to new heights, even if he’s immediately let down by the limitations he has. His famous walk is nothing more than a speck in his eye, but it is a very powerful speck. One that burgeons into a full-blown obsession when he catches an article about the famed two towers.

Along the way, he captures the eye and the heart of Annie Allix (Charlotte Le Bon), and with the help of photographer Jean Louis (Clement Sibony), as well as a motley crew of French and Americans who share his dream to some extent. Traveling to New York is the easy part, but what becomes the most difficult part of the journey is actually setting up his high wife, as you see, it’s kind of an illegal act. No one has allowed Philippe access to the two towers, so he and his crew have to secretly hang a tight rope wire weighing hundreds and hundreds of pounds across empty space and THEN tighten it just perfectly because even one mistake can send the man hurtling downwards to a very nasty splat.

If you look at the movie from afar, it seems like a weird conglomeration of film genres. You have a romance between Annie and Philippe, as well as what seems like a character study for the first portion of the film. Then mix in a dash of what feels like a criminal heist movie, and you’ve got the ingredients for The Walk. Simply mesmerizing from beginning to end, the film keeps a jovial and light tone to the narration, which keeps it from getting too bogged down in the character study. With a 2-hour and 3-minute run time, The Walk could have very easily just lost its way in the drama, leaving the audience bored before the final titular act. However, Joseph Gordon-Levitt does a great job at being over the top, yet strangely subdued at the same time, adding a sense of street performer charm that keeps you constantly watching his every movement. And I really wish the man acted in more films than he does nowadays after semi-retiring.

The third act is really what we've all been watching this for, and it doesn't disappoint in the slightest. Phillippe's walk is something that will keep you on the edge of your seat, and was one of those moments that became real-life history book material (and for good reason). He doesn't go across the wire just one. Nay, not even twice, but continues to walk back and forth across the wire while New York's finest pin him in from both exit points. Not willing to just break a record, Petit has to claim his victory by traversing the wire back and forth so many times that even his girlfriend is begging for him to dismount.

I have never really studied the life of Philippe Petit except on a very cursory level, so I honestly can’t say HOW accurate the inner workings of his journey to the top of the twin towers really are. I can only judge the movie on the merits of the film itself and how it affected me. As you can see by my gushing, I really REALLY enjoyed The Walk. It has everything a good movie requires and proves that Robert Zemeckis ISN’T really dead in the film-making world. He had made some great movies back in the late 90’s and early 2000’s (even in the late 80s), but recently he has dropped in quality quite a bit, making some fairly mediocre films like “Flight”. The famed director of “Castaway” and “Back to the Future” has a certain flair and visual style that is unmistakable in his dramas, and “The Walk” is easily on par with those masterpieces (in my opinion).




Rating:

Rated PG for thematic elements involving perilous situations, and for some nudity, language, brief drug references, and smoking




4K Video: Video:

The Walk was originally released in theaters at 2K resolution, and by all accounts, there has not been a new remaster attempt, so I’m going to rightfully assume that this release is an upscale based upon that original decade-old master. And like many remasters, it doesn’t exactly give us a truly reinvigorating upgrade, but rather one that fine-tunes and polishes up the Blu-ray release a bit. The color palette remains the same, slightly monochromatic blue and gray, with hints of color in some of the countryside sequences. Black levels are incredibly strong with amazing shadow details and actually polishes up that little bit of crush and banding I saw in the Blu-ray. Saturation seems a bit deeper, with richer shadows and more pop to the minimalist primary colors (such as the red string that he uses to gauge where he wants to drop his wire). As I said, it’s not a fantastic upgrade, but it is a decent upgrade nonetheless and complements the stellar Blu-ray nicely.









Audio:

I was kind of hoping for a Dolby Atmos remix for this one, and with it being Sony, the chances were above average that we would get one. However, Sony has decided to retain the same 3 audio tracks that were found on the 2016 Blu-ray disc, and I'm not really going to complain, considering that it is STILL a stellar audio mix. The Walk gives a SUPERB audio presentation in 5.1 DTS-HD MA. Dialog is exquisite. Ranging from soft whispers to Philippe yelling in that heavy French accent of his. The surrounds are incredibly diverse and detailed, as you can hear the creaking of his tight rope wire, the whistling of the wind through his hair, and the subtle rumble of the crowd underneath his feet. Even when the film is not as intense as the final act, we hear the chirping of birds in the background, or the rumble of the city hustle and bustle behind them, to the murmuring of bar talk while the crew discusses their plans. LFE is tight and powerful, adding deep waves of power to the more intense scenes, and you can actually FEEL the heavy weight of the creaking cable twanging in the wind. 100% perfect from beginning to end.














Extras:

• NEW Theatrical Trailer
• Deleted Scenes
• First Steps - Learning to Walk the Wire
• Pillars of Support
• The Amazing Walk
• NEW High Wire Act

Final Score: ​

Charming and intensely mesmerizing, I remember loving The Walk back a decade ago and still enjoy it today. I won’t say that it’s a one-time watch film, but once you’ve seen the film, it DOES have a minor decrease in watchability, I found. That being said, I was having a blast with the film once more, and actually kind of missing the 3D production the Blu-ray had on it. 3D is pretty much dead in a home theater environment, but this was a film that really shone in 3D near the end. The Audio and video for this release are stellar, and while there’s not a TON of new extras, this does keep all the legacy extras and adds on two small ones to fill it out a bit better. Definitely a fun watch.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Joseph Gordon Levitt, Charlotte Le Bon, Guillaume Baillargeon
Directed by: Robert Zemeckis
Written by: Robert Zemeckis, Christopher Browne
Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1 HEVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1, Portuguese DTS-HD MA 5.1, French, Spanish, Thai DD 5.1
Subtitles: English, English SDH, French, Spanish
Studio: Sony
Rated: PG
Runtime: 112 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: May 19th, 2026

Recommendation: Fun Watch

 

[Todd Anderson]

I can feel the fear of extreme heights kicking in just looking at the cover art. YIKES!

Has been a while since I've watched this one...I remember enjoying it.

Maybe time to watch Fall and The Walk back-2-back.