Man on Wire: Critic Reviews

[A] breathtaking documentary about that mad-genius coup achieved over three decades ago.

Thorough, understated and altogether enthralling documentary.

What Marsh shows us is Petit's childlike innocence and almost transcendental faith: faith in himself, faith in his leadership abilities, faith that the escapade would be a success, and faith that he would not fall.

A documentary about a towering act of daring proves a spine-tingling memorial to recklessness as art.

Exhilarating... a crowd-pleaser in such witty, poetic ways that even an art-house curmudgeon couldn't deny its tidy vigor.

Director James Marsh's hypnotic movie documents French wire walker Philippe Petit's unauthorized, 45-minute balancing act 110 stories above New York in August 1974.

Part of what makes Man on Wire so enthralling, and so entertaining, is the filmmaker's skill in laying out the illegal caper's logistics, mainly through interviews with Philippe and his support team.

Though we know how it ends, it unfolds with suspense. And though it lacks any discussion of the towers' destruction, it succeeds as a tribute to their birth.

A gift of a documentary.

James Marsh's rollicking documentary Man on Wire asks not 'Why?' but 'How the hell?'

Constructed like a first-rate thriller.

Robert Zemeckis is developing a feature film based on Petit's life and high crimes. Good luck to all concerned, but I can't see how a fictionalized treatment could exceed the achievement of director James Marsh's documentary, which unfolds like a dream.

In archival photos Petit seems to float between the towers, a tiny black figure against a vivid blue sky; the images are all the more poignant for the unstated fact that Petit is still around when the buildings aren't.

[A] heart-stopping, knee-buckling and transcendent account.

There's nothing on movie screens now that can compare with the footage of Petit's performance.

Astonishing. Daring. Mind-boggling. Visually stunning. A true heart-stopper. And, oh yeah, the movie's pretty good, too.

As the film traces how he plotted his Word Trade Center walk, it starts to feel almost like a heist movie, as Mr. Petit and his cronies map out each minute detail over the course of month.

James Marsh's Man on Wire erupts onscreen as one of the most wildly entertaining docs of recent years.

[An] engrossing and exhilarating documentary Man on Wire, which uses vintage footage, interviews and re-creations.

James Marsh tells Petit's story, the most inspiring 'heist' in modern history, a Frenchman's stroll between two 110 story buildings in lower Manhattan.

This film is a celebration of human achievement; it soars with the promise that we are shackled to the ground only by lack of imagination and will.

In this exhilarating, palm-moistening documentary by British filmmaker James Marsh (Wisconsin Death Trip), the twin towers are back to celebrate one of their finest moments.

[Director] Marsh creates a transfixing documentary feature that doubles as a celebration of one man and an elegy to two buildings that are no more.