Should you see both 'Man on Wire' and 'Walk'?

The Walk is Robert Zemeckis' new big-screen narrative based on the story of Phillippe Petit's rigging and performance of a high-wire walk between the twin towers. Man on Wire is James Marsh's 2008 documentary about Petit's famous high-wire walk.

Wait, do we really need two films (and a memoir, Between the Clouds) that cover the same topic?

Well, you definitely need to see inspiring Oscar winner Man on Wire. That's not up for negotiation. But as for the second movie ...

Here are 6 reasons to see The Walk, the new movie about the same story which is in limited release now:

Giggles.

While much of Man on Wire is told by Petit, himself, The Walk is narrated by a sincere Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Petit. JGL isn't more animated than the real, energetic Petit, but his performance seems a bit over-the-top when he breaks the fourth wall while energetically addressing viewers from the torch of the Statue of Liberty. So while Man on Wire is more likely to make you cry (for joy — y'all cried, too, right?), The Walk has a better shot at inducing a giggle. Maybe not on purpose.

It's simpler.

The documentary about Petit isn't told in a linear fashion: The story opens with Petit talking about how he felt the night before his walk, then cuts to interviews with different friends, before it heads back in time to the planning of "le coup" and then forward to the night of the walk and back again. The fictionalized version of the story, instead, is told chronologically in a flashback. Gordon-Levitt clearly explains how he got into wire-walking, how he recruited all of his accomplices and how he planned his performance art. Plus, it has catchy spy music to help you through the story.

It makes you feel like you're on the wire.

Marsh's movie includes actual footage of Petit walking 1,300 feet above New York City, but Zemeckis creates a pulse-racing, interactive 3-D experience of the wire walk. In IMAX, objects falling from the sky look like they're going to hit you. Cameras and CGI take viewers up buildings, across wires and show both close-ups and aerials of a wire-walking Gordon-Levitt. When the actor looks down, we're on the edge of our seats.

Ben Kingsley is in it.

In The Walk, Ben Kingsley is "Papa Rudy," Gordon-Levitt's wire-walking mentor. Ben Kingsley is an amazing actor. Also: Papa Rudy doesn't have a big role in Man on Wire, so it's worth meeting the character — though fictionalized — in The Walk.

The facial hair is fantastic.

You may remember the so-called "inside man" from the documentary having fabulous facial hair. Well, the Walk version of the character recreates his curly mustache and beard. Also: Seeing Ben Schwartz (aka Jean-Ralphio) with sideburns and a 'stache is amusing.

It reminds you how insane the whole plan was.

For people unfamiliar with the real story of Petit's walk between the the twin towers of the World Trade Center, they may see The Walk and assume certain details were invented to create a more exciting narrative. Not so much. Here are some examples of parts of the movie that actually happened, and are also presented in Man on Wire:

• Petit hits upon his dream of walking a high-wire between the twin towers while looking through a magazine in a dentist's waiting room. He is supposed to be treated for a toothache, but never waits long enough to be seen.
• Petit indeed steps on a sharp nail as he preps for his wire walk.
• While on one of the towers, trying to recover an arrow attached to a fishing line that was shot from the second tower, Petit gets naked to better feel for it.
• Before beginning his epic walk, Petit drops a piece of clothing from the sky that his friends mistake for Petit himself.
• Petit and his accomplice — who is afraid of heights — hides for hours on the top floor of the World Trade Center on a beam, over a drop, under a tarp
• Police say they'll to drop all charges against Petit if he agrees to perform a free high-wire show for the public.