Dead Man's Wire (15)

Car salesman Tony Kiritsis purchased approximately 17 acres of land, earmarked for a proposed shopping centre, using a $110,000 loan from the Meridian Mortgage company. When the property development failed to materialise, Tony fell behind on repayments and, now, he holds the firm and president ML Hall responsible for his financial misery. On February 8, 1977, Tony arrives for a meeting with ML, ready to exact his revenge with a sawn-off shotgun.

LondonNet Film Review

Dead Man’s Wire (15) Film Review from LondonNet

Director Gus Van Sant whitens knuckles with a stylish dramatisation of a 1977 Indianapolis hostage negotiation, which was painstakingly documented in the 2018 non-fiction film, Dead Man’s Line. Groovy production design, costumes and cinematography jive with an evocative Danny Elfman score and era-specific soundtrack to conjure a similar sweat-soaked vibe to Dog Day Afternoon. More than 50 years later, that film’s charismatic star, Al Pacino, chews scenery with relish in Van Sant’s slow-burning assault on our nerves…

Car salesman Tony Kiritsis (Bill Skarsgard) purchased approximately 17 acres of land, earmarked for a proposed shopping centre, using a $110,000 loan from the Meridian Mortgage company. When the property development failed to materialise, Tony fell behind on repayments and, now, he holds the firm and president ML Hall (Pacino) responsible for his financial misery. On February 8, 1977, Tony arrives for a meeting with ML, with one arm in a sling and the other clutching a large parcel. Due to a “scheduling kerfuffle”, ML is in Florida for a meeting and ML’s son Richard (Dacre Montgomery) holds the conference instead.

Tony sheds his fake sling and reveals a sawed-off-shotgun, which he affixes next to Richard’s head using a dead man’s wire. Any sudden movements and the firearm will discharge. Tony demands a public acknowledgment of wrongdoing from ML to end the hostage crisis. “I’m gonna let the world know what you and your dad did to me. Simple as that,” Tony snarls at Richard before the stand-off with police detective Michael Grable (Cary Elwes) and other officers moves to Tony’s booby-trapped apartment. As Tony prepares to call local radio DJ Fred Temple (Colman Domingo) to tell his side of the story, ambitious TV reporter Linda Page (Myha’la) loiters outside, angling for a career-making scoop.

Dead Man’s Wire is a sleek and satisfyingly suspenseful showdown between authorities and a desperate businessman, who is convinced he has been grievously wronged and deserves a full public apology. Skarsgard’s skittish, paranoia-fuelled portrayal of Tony is delightfully unpredictable, sustaining tension with occasional outbursts of rage that would convince any negotiator he is capable of pulling a trigger. Luxuriating with a southern drawl, Pacino meets Tony’s demands with indifference verging on irritation.

Austin Kolodney’s script is hard-wired with deathly dark humour. No sooner has Tony tightened the dead man’s noose around Richard’s neck and ventured into the street with the shotgun aimed at his hostage’s cranium than the aggrieved businessman slips momentarily on a snow-laden path and almost leaves Richard without a noggin by virtue of his clumsiness. Van Sant’s picture never loses its head, criss-crossing coolly between different players in a gradually expanding media circus, back in an age when TV screens and radios were the only open windows on the world. A storm gathers in Dead Man’s Wire.

– Sarah Lee