'Skywalkers: A Love Story' Review: Netflix's romantic adventure documentary nosedives into monotony
Contains spoilers for 'Skywalkers: A Love Story'
KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA: 'Skywalkers: A Love Story' started streaming on Netflix on July 19, 2024. The documentary is an exploration of the excitingly adventurous lives of Angela Nikolau and Ivan Beerkus who climb rooftops without a safety harness.
The documentary begins with the backstory of the two adventure artists as they describe their reasons for taking up such an extreme adventure activity that puts their lives in danger every single time.
It then reaches a point where their lives intersect and they end up falling in love with each other. The documentary then intertwines their relationship with the climb of a lifetime as they break rules and scale unscalable heights.
The movie however recreates reality and eventually loses the charm of a documentary. Here is a detailed review of 'Skywalkers: A Love Story'.
'Skywalkers: A Love Story' takes fictitious representation too far
The most thrilling parts of the documentary are actually the real bits of the story that are shot in low quality and give a sense of realism. Unfortunately, for the documentary, there are not too many of them.
The real portions of the documentary too are overtly explained with a voiceover that is extremely made up. There is a sequence in the documentary where the police arrest the couple and it would have been so much better if it was without voice-over and as an audience, we could experience the thrill of being up there in the sky with a threat on the ground.
Even if it was done with Foley sound effects, it might have worked better.
As the story progresses, the real bits keep getting lesser and you see more about the couple's life away from the thrills and the documentary begins to become boring with every passing minute.
The love story is an unnecessary addition with forced obstacles
The story of climbing the Merdeka 118 tower in Malaysia could alone have driven this film if the makers decided to keep the focus on their process rather than going into the obstacles of their love life and breakups.
The love story along with the geopolitical additions to the storyline and their personal struggles such as their financial crunch and growing apart in their relationship begin to drag the documentary.
By the time it goes back to being about the climb and their process, the audience is already too disconnected to feel anything and be in sync with their journey.
Cinematography and music keep 'Skywalkers: A Love Story' barely afloat
The documentary has some great cinematography, particularly in the bits that are done high above the rooftops while climbing, and the stress is maintained very well.
The music albeit unnecessary in many scenes is done very well and the use of soundtrack conveys the mood of the characters beautifully. Overall, the movie feels like a wasted opportunity that could have shown one of the most thrilling experiences in a spine-chilling way.
'Skywalkers: A Love Story' trailer
'Skywalkers: A Love Story' is streaming on Netflix