Sundance 2024 Review: “Skywalkers” – Lost in the Shadows of Celestial Peaks!

High stakes documentaries that focus on adrenaline junkies and or dangerous sports seem to always have a place among viewers and movie enthusiasts. Being able to step into a world many of us are too afraid to attempt, and probably shouldn’t, is the closest most of us will get to, in this case, death defying heights on the tallest skyscrapers in the world.

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Angela Nikolau and Ivan Beerkus are two of the most famous skywalkers, individuals who climb to the top of the tallest buildings in the world. Angela is an acrobat who posts artsy pictures on Instagram when she completes one of her climbs where Ivan documents his progress via social media as well, which is how the two met. After climbing and being together for years, they decide to climb one of the world’s last major skyscrapers together to achieve their dream and also salvage their relationship together.

The general idea of Skywalkers is relatively appealing. Any sort of journey into a world unknown to many is bound to cause intrigue. The film begins by following Angela as she describes her parent’s background working in the circus and her acrobatic background. She then decided to combine her skills with a new challenge, skywalking. Seeing her first couple of climbs is amazing but her and Ivan’s story becomes a little stale as it begins to outline their relationship, which apart from skywalking is nothing special to behold.

As the film progresses the audience is told and shown through a couple minute scene of the two getting into an argument on one of their climbs. We are then led to believe their relationship has crumbled over the years, resulting in their decision to liven up their relationship by climbing Merdeka 118 in Malaysia. One of the major issues of Skywalkers is the angle the film takes regarding their relationship. There is so little exploration of this “crumbling” that the audience never gets the sense this climb is something that will actually make them stronger as a couple. Although their attempt is incredible, the lens the film looks through is not as impactful as it thinks it is.

The film gets a little repetitive as it seems the two have the skills to climb just about anything, as long as they have the bravery. As a result, the audience never feels like there is a chance of anything going a-wire given their film narration that makes it clear that this is not death defying. Their journey to climb Merdeka 118 depends a lot on not getting caught trespassing rather than the actual climb, which does break up the monotony of their climbs and poses another threat of getting caught and getting sent to prison.

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Skywalker’s structure gives us a quick clip of this journey in the beginning that sparks interest as the film progresses, even if the rest is chronological. The film builds enough suspense in these moments even if it doesn’t utilize it throughout. Skywalkers is a decent documentary that focuses on adrenaline junkies but falters to create any real human story between Angela and Ivan.

‘Skywalkers’ Rating – 2.5/5

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