The makers of The Walk and The Program were faced with the same problem. How to make a film about well known true events that were previously covered by critically acclaimed documentaries. The Walk tells the story of Phillipe Petit, the man who performed a tightrope walk between the twin towers of the World Trade Centre in 1974, previously told in Man on Wire (2008) . The Program covers the rise and fall of cyclist Lance Armstrong, a subject covered just last year in The Armstrong Lie.

The first half of The Walk is pretty pedestrian stuff. Petit’s childhood years and his early tightrope walking efforts struggled to hold my interest. Once he reaches New York, things begin to pick up. With the help of the score by Alan Silvestri, the preparation / set up scenes feel like a caper movie, and the scenes of him performing the feat are really impressive. I’m not the greatest with heights, and I think if I saw this film in 3D, I might have been quite queasy! The other problem with the film is that Petit isn’t really a likeable character; self-centred and arrogant, he is a hard man to like. Joseph Gordon Levitt is fine in the role, despite a distracting French accent, though my favourite performance is from James Badge Dale as the much more engaging JP.

I think most people will consider Man on Wire to be the better, more insightful film. However, as there is no video footage of Petit PerfornIt is really those scenes that ultimately make this worth seeing.

The Walk Rating: 6 out of 10

Obviously the central character in The Program is also completely unlikable. The smug, bullying, Lance Armstrong has done more than anyone to damage cycling’s reputation. However, he is clearly the villain of the piece in The Program and Ben Foster’s performance is spot on. The story may be very familiar to a lot of viewers, but the director Stephen Frears expertly races through Armstrong’s wins, delivering a cohesive movie. There is not a single wasted scene and I found myself being gripped by the story once again.

There are some unexpected gaps, like the absence of Tyler Hamilton and I probably would have liked it even more if the story had concentrated more on the pioneering journalist David Walsh (the excellent Chris O’Dowd). However, very good supporting performances from Elaine Cassidy, Jesse Plemons and Laura Donnelly and any soundtrack that contains a track by The Fall is good in my book!

The Program rating 8.5 out of 10