The story of a brazen, arrogant young Parisian street performer and amateur wire walker who, after seeing a sketch for the under construction World Trade Center buildings in a magazine ad, saw his life's dream of breaking into the towers, gaining roof access to the 94 floor structures, running a steel cable across its 140 foot gap, and performing one of the most daring stunts ever fathomed. Although the film version of Phillipe Petit's unrivaled triumph offers nothing in the way of character development, lacks narrative drive and tension, is overly cheesy, features a servicable but unremarkable Joseph Gordon Levitt star performance, wastes Ben Kingsley in a throwaway role, and feels like a literal live action translation of James Marsh's superlative documentary Man on Wire, it is worth the price of admission alone for the special effects, generally for director Robert Zemeckis' masterful use of 3D and specifically for the queasy, awe inspiring, unspeakable high wire act of the title.
*** 1/2 out ****
