Dead Man’s Wire – Review

Cert – 15, Run-time – 1 hour 46 minutes, Director – Gus Van Sant

After being denied an extension on a loan, Tony Kiritsis (Bill Skarsgård) walks into the Meridian Mortgage office with a shotgun and takes the owner’s (Al Pacino) son (Dacre Montgomery) hostage, using his favourite radio host (Colman Domingo) as an intermediary with the police.

Dog Day Afternoon is all over Gus Van Sant’s dialled-back return to feature directing. The casting of Al Pacino on the other side of the hostage situation is surely intentional, and he seems to acknowledge this somewhat in his performance as the head of Meridian Mortgage, holidaying in Florida whilst his son, Richard Hall (Dacre Montgomery), is taken hostage by an angered Bill Skarsgård.

After an extension on a loan payment is denied, Bill Skarsgård’s Tony Kiritsis walks into the Meridian offices for a scheduled meeting and, believing he knows the firm’s plan for where his loan would have gone, puts a shotgun to Richard’s head, marching him to his apartment with the police and reporters not far behind. Kiritsis is a jittery figure who, despite how calm he tries to be, you feel could accidentally pull the trigger at any time, if the dead man’s wire around Hall’s neck doesn’t set it off first. Skarsgård gives on of his best performances to date as the uneven rage of his character is cut up by his near excitement at just what he’s doing, as he and Hall sit in his apartment, occasionally talking to his favourite radio host, Colman Domingo’s suave Fred Temple, who acts as a mediator between Kiritisis and the police.

The look and style of the piece is packed with attention to detail, capturing the sweaty, 70s thriller vibe that’s specifically aimed for. As mentioned, Dog Day Afternoon is present throughout, it would be hard to avoid it even if it wasn’t a key inspiration. But, the gritty look, if not entirely feel, and containment of the Hollywood thrillers of that decade are found thick here, and add to the entertainment factor. Van Sant manages to create a confined piece of work when it comes to the cramped spaces the two leads find themselves in that has a wide scope thanks to the external forces at work trying to stop Kiritsis from pulling the trigger and just how well everything is pulled off with the constantly moving plan at hand, alongside themes at play.

Each figure who plays a part in Kiritsis’ hostage situation contributes to the constantly shifting piece that’s been formed in Austin Kolodney’s screenplay. Each character and group feels interconnected in some way, capturing the tension and uncertainty at hand. All revolving around Skarsgård’s central performance which brings in the uneasy feelings early on and maintains the tension at hand in a film that would fit right in amongst the 70s thrillers that have inspired it.

With 70s thriller influences on clear display, although not copied, Dead Man’s Wire is an entertaining, contained story with scope to allow for interconnected characters who keep things constantly moving around Bill Skarsgård’s strong central performance.