Entertainment Weekly by Lisa Schwarzbaum

The gorgeous music includes Ralph Vaughan Williams' wafting tone poem ''The Lark Ascending'' -- apt in describing an artist who might well be part bird.

Variety by Robert Koehler

One of the most wildly entertaining docs of recent years.

Boston Globe by Ty Burr

The sight is magical and heartbreaking in equal measure. Look, the movie says: Where so many would fall, a man walks on air.

Baltimore Sun by Michael Sragow

One of the favorite sayings of journalists and politicians is "You don't want to see how the sausage is made." Marsh's movie says you do want to see how a miracle is made, even if the details can be just as unsavory.

San Francisco Chronicle by Reyhan Harmanci

Delightful.

Washington Post by Ann Hornaday

Thanks to Marsh's sensitive storytelling, Man on Wire manages to put Petit's performance into another, more ineffable realm: What began as a caper turned into poetry, and poetry became a prayer.

Los Angeles Times by Kenneth Turan

This is a police procedural, if you will, about what's been called the artistic crime of the century.

Wall Street Journal by Joe Morgenstern

James Marsh's documentary raises the bar for the genre to skyscraper height.

Chicago Sun-Times by Roger Ebert

Man on Wire is about the vanquishing of the towers by bravery and joy, not by terrorism.

Chicago Tribune by Michael Phillips

The film itself is perfectly poised between artistry and audacity. It's beautiful.

The New York Times by A.O. Scott

Thorough, understated and altogether enthralling documentary.

New York Post by Lou Lumenick

Engrossing and exhilarating documentary.

TV Guide Magazine by Ken Fox

The film runs 95 minutes, and you'll be holding your breath for most of them.

Village Voice

While largely lighthearted, Petit's walk and Marsh's film take on new meaning post-9/11. Man on Wire never mentions the events of that day, but the Trade Center's collapse continues to weigh on Petit, as if its destruction was every bit as tragic as the human lives lost that day.

Film Threat

Pre the events of 9/11, the film might have simply been an entertaining, high risk tale of a death-defying feat related in both interviews, archival footage and photos and Marsh's usual meticulous and creative re-enactment vignettes. Post 9/11 you find yourself marveling that a man in far away France became smitten with the twin towers long before they became the target of terrorist attacks.

New York Magazine (Vulture) by David Edelstein

The most miraculous thing about Man on Wire is not the physical feat itself, 1,350 feet above the ground, but that as you watch it, the era gone, the World Trade Center gone, the movie feels as if it's in the present tense. That nutty existentialist acrobat pulled it off. For an instant, he froze time.

Premiere

Much of this story is indeed entertaining: there's a tone of lighthearted mischievousness to the plotting and scheming of an illegal act that is essentially harmless.

The A.V. Club by Noel Murray

It's a story worth telling, yes--but after 90 minutes, it's hard not to wonder if the storyteller can talk about anything else.