Dead Man's Wire (2025)
Director Gus Van Sant's new film Dead Man's Wire focuses on a bizarre piece of true crime history. In 1977 Indianapolis, Tony (Bill Skarsgård) is mad about a mortgage company's underhanded tactics denying him a potentially valuable business opportunity. His plan is to kidnap the company's owner M.L. Hall (Al Pacino), but M.L. is out of town. So, he kidnaps Richard (Dacre Montgomery), the business' vice president and the owner's son. The movie's title comes from the contraption attached to a shotgun that Tony straps around Richard's neck where if anything happens to Tony or if Richard tries to run, Richard's head will get blown off.
Van Sant (Good Will Hunting, Milk) does a good job with the '70s atmosphere, and he also gets a top-notch performance from Colman Domingo as a radio DJ who Tony calls to get his message out to the public. The fact that the true story the film is based on is forgotten or unknown by most means there is genuine tension in the final act as to what will happen between the characters. However, the film's first and third acts are its strongest. Once Tony takes Richard to Tony's apartment and he barricades the two of them inside, the story drags a bit and bogs down. The movie also suffers from a strange accent choice by Cary Elwes, who plays a cop trying to negotiate with Tony.
Dead
Man's Wire, with
its '70s setting and an emphasis on the media circus accompanying a hostage
situation, calls to mind Dog Day Afternoon (including the presence of
Pacino in both films), but it never quite reaches the heights of Sidney Lumet's
1975 classic.
