“The Walk,” directed by veteran Robert Zemeckis comes out at a perfect time; CGI has finally advanced enough to recreate the crazy acrobatics of Philippe Petit, and America has reached a point of nostalgia towards the twin towers.

Joseph Gordon Levitt’s performance of Petit begins with one of the cheesiest movie devices that would normally sink the theatrical integrity, but Levitt is not so easily written off.

Atop the Statue of Liberty is Petit, triumphantly smiling to the audience, as he goes into his life story and how he came to wire walk across the Twin Towers. This is a constant shot in the film, but due to Petit’s energetic attitude, and Levitt’s spot on portrayal, it is done with success.

The intro of the movie does a good job giving the audience a good first impression of who Philippe Petit was.

We learn of a man that is strange, charismatic, and a big dreamer. The character is interesting and fresh in a world of smooth talking, laid back leading characters that plague most movies.

The rest of his adventures are best described as a heist movie that leads up to his wire walking between the Twin Towers.

The walk itself is when the CGI becomes an important player. It allows Zemeckis to film a thrilling recreation of the walk with a great actor rather than a great wire walker.

To put it plainly, the CGI of the twin towers looks real.

Levitt looks like he could fall to his death, and the thrill of watching a man risk his life feels authentic.

The World Trade Center has changed meaning in the past decade. This is not a story about that, nor is there even a gleam in Petit’s crazed eye.

Yet it is hard to see this movie set in the 70s in this light. The movie addresses this in its call to remember the Twin Towers as they stood.

Petit’s dream of walking his wire across the towers gave the audience, looking up into the fog filled sky in 1974, a chance to appreciate the Towers affectionately for the first time.

This moment, this shift in thought, is what the movie allows the audience of today to fully re-identify with, allowing the Twin Towers to be understood in a positive light once more.

Change is what this movie displays well. Change in Petit as he comes to understand his craft and how to further it. Change in the Twin Towers as they become iconic. Change in cinematic usage of CGI to recreate real events safely and successfully.

The Walk is a movie that can appeal to the most casual moviegoer as well as the jaded, hyper-critical film fanatic. It is a balancing act that does not have its trade offs, but is able to safely walk this line in a graceful manner.