The true story behind Dead Man’s Wire is certainly compelling, but it doesn’t necessarily merit a big screen adaptation. Gus Van Sant’s single-day thriller leans into the many obvious points of comparison that came before, chiefly Dog Day Afternoon (complete with a supporting role from one Alfredo Pacino), but unlike Lumet’s masterpiece, it has little to say beyond “pretty wild that this happened, eh?”
And yeah, it’s pretty wild that it happened. Someone should make a documentary about it.
Bill Skarsgård plays Tony Kiritsis, an aggrieved citizen who, after falling victim to a predatory loan from a bank, decides to get some street justice. He marches into Meridian Mortgage Company and takes Richard Hall (Dacre Montgomery) hostage. He’s his second choice for a captive. It’s Hall’s Father (Alfredo Pacino) who he really wants at the end of his gun barrel, but the elder Hall is on vacation in Florida, unwilling to be bothered by anyone. Kiritsis employs a dead man’s wire to take control of the situation. Put simply, the titular device is a wire connecting both he and his hostage to a rifle, and if either party moves too quickly, or is taken down by cops, the gun will fire, blowing the hostage’s head clean off his shoulders.
What follows is a beat-by-beat rundown of the day: The cops show up, led by a completely unrecognizable, scene-stealing Cary Elwes. An ambitious reporter (Myha’la) stumbles into an opportunity to cover some real news for once, and a radio DJ (Colman Domingo) gets unwittingly pulled into things as a public mouthpiece for Kiritsis, much to the dismay of his wife, with whom he has had to cancel dinner plans.
It’s in this attempt at an ensemble piece that the film loses its edge. Austin Kolodny’s script is stuck between committing to a character study of its protagonist and the ensemble folk antihero tale that just isn’t there. In hovering between both modes it succeeds at neither, and leaves a handful of potentially great performances undercooked and on the sidelines. The film is not wholly without value, however, as there are natural thrills built into a story such as this, as well as an angle through which our protagonist can be offered empathy. Who among us hasn’t felt victimized by the economy, if not the predators who know how to game the system?
If the film were made 15 years ago, it certainly would’ve starred Michael Shannon, but I’m not mad at a world where Bill Skarsgård steps into roles such as this to stretch his legs and be a little less arch. He handles the role well, but it’s Dacre Montgomery, wearing on his face the palpable fear of a man on the bleeding edge of life and death, who steals the film. One wishes the film were more focused on the interplay between hostage and victim, if just to watch these two young and hungry stars chew it up for a bit.
Still, this diluted version of this story is never boring, but I think either a documentary or a full-on Hollywoodization (see: Pain & Gain) would’ve better served the material. The most compelling part of the whole film is the closing credits, which features actual footage from the event.
Directed by Gus Van Sant
Written by Austin Kolodney
Starring Dacre Montgomery, Bill Skarsgård, Kelly Lynch, Myha’la
Rated R, 105 minutes
