Film Review of the Week

Thriller

Dead Man's Wire (15)

Review: 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.

Sci-Fi

Project Hail Mary (12A)

Review: Phil Lord and Christopher Miller’s otherworldly adventure, adapted from Andy Weir’s novel by screenwriter Drew Goddard, starts in the middle and gradually works its way back to the beginning. Time is of the essence in Project Hail Mary but not to the dynamic directing duo, who gently propel us into dizzying orbit with the most unconventional and gorgeously touching screen double-act outside our solar system.

Ryland Grace (Ryan Gosling) regains consciousness on a spaceship bound for Tau Ceti, a star located around 11.9 light years from Earth. Two crew members, captain Yao Li-Jie (Ken Leung) and pilot Olesya Ilyukhina (Milana Vayntrub), appear to have died in induced comas in transmit. Ryland is alone and suffering from amnesia, unable to recall who he is or how he came to be on the vessel. The ship’s computer, Mary (voiced by Priya Kansara), provides his name and purpose. Ryland is the science officer and fragmented memories piece together the past.

He is a science teacher at Grover Cleveland Middle school, recruited by Eva Stratt (Sandra Hüller), director of the Hail Mary project, to consult on an urgent matter. Single-celled organisms called Astrophages are stealing heat from our sun, and in 30 years the Earth will cool 10-15C with catastrophic consequences for our species. Ryland blasts off on a one-way mission to neutralise the Astrophage threat. Far from home, he encounters another adventurer on a similar quest: a rock-like being from the planet Erid, whom he christens Rocky. They work together to conceive a hare-brained plan that might save both home worlds.

Project Hail Mary takes its title from a traditional Catholic prayer and, figuratively, from a last-gasp shot at success – but Lord and Miller’s wondrous film doesn’t require any divine intervention or outrageous good fortune to reach for the stars and shine brightly. Gosling is a supernova, whether he is talking to himself or interacting with his unexpected playmate. He plies innate charm to devastating effect to expose his character’s vulnerability and self-doubt, and handcuffs our emotions to Ryland as he muddles through an immense self-sacrifice for a greater good.

Rocky is beautifully realised, predominantly as an articulated physical puppet controlled by a five-strong team led by James Ortiz, who also provides the creature’s voice. The interplay of this intergalactic traveller with Gosling creates magical and gut-wrenching moments. The film fully earns its tearful deluges of sadness, relief and life-affirming joy. Screenwriter Goddard repeats the alchemy of his Oscar-nominated work on Weir’s earlier book The Martian. He mines gentle humour at opportune moments to relieve tension and glimpses each setback through Ryland’s eyes, tinged with the knowledge that Mary has just enough fuel to reach Tau Ceti but not to return to the third rock from the sun.

Horror

Ready Or Not 2: Here I Come (15)

Review: A blood-soaked bride lighting a cigarette outside a burning mansion after surviving a satanic game of hide-and-seek feels like the perfect conclusion to a horror film. But filmmakers Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, collectively known as Radio Silence, believe there was more story to tell. Having reinvigorated the Scream franchise, the directing duo return with their follow-up to the 2019 comedy-horror sleeper Ready Or Not, with scream queen Samara Weaving reprising her role as Grace MacCaullay.

Grace believes the nightmare of her courtship with Alex Le Domas (Mark O’Brien) is over, now that she has eliminated her deranged in-laws. Alas, her hard-fought, blood-soaked victory comes with razor-sharp strings attached: other wealthy families around the world are now permitted to hunt Grace and slaughter her for sport.

Chester Danforth (David Cronenberg) and his sadistic kin, including twin offspring Ursula (Sarah Michelle Gellar) and Titus (Shawn Hatosy), lead the charge. Grace is determined to avoid further violence, but when she discovers her younger sister Faith (Kathryn Newton) has become fair game for these tenacious hunters, the psychologically scarred survivor has no choice but to decimate anyone who threatens her bloodline.

Newton is an excellent addition to the cast, and the sisterhood between Faith and Grace serves as the emotional core of the film. Their complicated history is set aside as they are forced to rely on each other to survive. Newton and Weaving share strong on-screen chemistry and deliver several sharp one-liners, providing welcome comic relief amid the chaos.

While the sequel shares a premise similar to the original, the new group of murderous aristocrats injects fresh energy. Among them is the delightful Elijah Wood, who plays a nameless lawyer observing the madness from the sidelines. It is glorious to see Gellar back in the role of a slayer, though it is disappointing that she is not given enough material to fully showcase her talents. She and Hatosy make excellent sinister siblings, evoking the dynamic of Kathryn and Sebastian from her 1999 classic Cruel Intentions with Ryan Phillippe.

The film takes audiences on an action-packed, blood-soaked ride, where you are rooting for the sisters’ survival while revelling in the chaotic madness that unfolds. Expect exploding humans again, satanic rituals, ruthless relatives and some laugh-out-loud moments throughout. The conclusion leaves room for a potential trilogy, and given Radio Silence’s fondness for franchises, that possibility feels incredibly plausible.