Bill Skarsgård

Dacre Montgomery

Al Pacino

Colman Domingo

Myha'la

Cary Elwes

Kelly Lynch

John Robinson

Todd Gable

Jordan Claire Robbins

Kyle Rankin

Daniel R. Hill

Casey Feigh

Eli Samek

Stephanie Bertoni

Vinh Nguyen

Donald K. Overstreet

John N. Dixon

Katie Kinman

Andy S. Allen

Danielle Munday

Neil Mulac

Elliot Gross

Maresha Robinson

Kevin Ragsdale

Michael Ashcraft

Dean Coutris

William R. Davis

D.J. Stroud

Jackson Monks

Austin Kolodney

Gus Van Sant

Cassian Elwes

Tom Culliver

Joel David Moore

Stefan Dechant

Sydney Marquez

Frank Blake

Francisco Ortiz

Shepherd Ahlers

Danny Elfman

Noor Alfallah

Remi Alfallah

Mark Amin

Andrea Bucko

Matt Murphie

Paula Paizes

Sam Pressman

Rishi Bajaj

Ryan Bartecki

Lily Blavin

Luke Bouchier

Lee Broda

Michael Leon Cassutt

Lara Clear

Svetlana Migunova-Dali

James Di Giacomo

Jon Gosier

J. Todd Harris

Matt Hartley

Arnaud Potier

Saar Klein

Kathy Campbell

Vito Trotta

Debbie Zoller

Peggy Schnitzer

Christopher Hines

Katharina Otto-Bernstein

Oleg Dubson

Clark Baker

Tiffany Boyle

Aaron Brown

Bubba Cash

David Devries

Veronica Ferres

Alan Helene

Billy Hines

Ali Jazayeri

Kyle Kaminsky

Arno Krimmer

Maxwell Loeb

Robert K. MacLean

Thomas Mann

David Mansfield

Nathan Mardis

Michael Merlob

William Nobel

Julie Pacino

Nicol Paone

John Pitts

Ramin Pourteymour

Elsa Ramo

Nick N. Raslan

Dan Reardon

Jeff Rice

Oliver Ridge

Eyal Rimmon

Emily Hunter Salveson

Divya Shahani

Steven Sims

Nate Stevens

Daniel Taborga

Trey Terpeluk

Oliver Trevena

Cami Winikoff

Nicholas Wirth

Veronica Radaelli

Siena Oberman

Drama

Thriller

Crime

Dead Man's Wire

Elevated Films

Pressman Film

Balcony 9 Productions

Sobini Films

RNA Pictures

Pinstripes

United States of America

Brent Marchant

At a time when many of us may feel like we’re being systematically shafted by big business and powerful financial institutions, it’s natural that some of us might feel justified in seeking retribution against them for their deceitful actions. Such was also the case in February 1977, when an aggrieved borrower sought potentially deadly vengeance against the president of an Indianapolis mortgage company, as seen in this fact-based comedy-drama-thriller from director Gus Van Sant. When Tony Kiritsis (Bill Skarsgård), a mentally challenged borrower, felt financially betrayed by a lender he implicitly trusted, he decided to take action to get back at the loan company’s owner, M.L. Hall (Al Pacino). However, on the day he was scheduled to meet with Mr. Hall, Kiritsis learned that he was on a last-minute midwinter “business trip” to Florida, thereby thwarting his plans for revenge. So, with his principal intention thus foiled, the angry customer resorted to his fallback plan, taking the owner’s son, Richard (Dacre Montgomery), as hostage. And, to show the world he meant business, the perpetrator fitted his captive with a taut wire around his neck that was connected to a shotgun set to fire with the slightest unplanned motion. However, despite his seemingly efficient planning, the determined but somewhat bumbling culprit ended up launching what would turn out to be a cross between a heinous criminal event and a comical media circus that mesmerized the city for days. Law enforcement officials, like Kiritsis’s acquaintance, Det. Michael Grable (Cary Elwes), were frustrated by developments at nearly every turn, while many in the public at large sympathized with the captor’s seemingly justifiable motives. And, in the process, the event exploded to draw in a variety of ancillary storylines, such as the determined campaign of a neophyte television reporter (Myha’la) aggressively seeking to lock down coverage of her first breakthrough story and the improvised negotiation efforts of a popular local radio host (Colman Domingo) who was trusted by the event’s ringmaster who was unwittingly drawn into the fray. The result is an accurate re-enactment of a potentially dangerous event that ultimately plays out like a classic example of pure Americana kitsch, a film that calls to mind elements found in such releases as “Dog Day Afternoon” (1975) and “Breaking” (2022). However, despite the picture’s commendable efforts at re-creating a scenario that has largely slipped from public memory over the years, this release feels as though it tries a little too hard at times, as if it’s wearing its penchant for period piece authenticity on its sleeve. In addition, portions of the narrative drag somewhat in the middle, coming across like padding to fill out the easily trimmed 1:45:00 runtime. Those criticisms aside, however, “Dead Man’s Wire” nevertheless features an excellent production design, along with fine performances by Domingo, Pacino, and, especially, Skarsgård. This modestly entertaining offering generally holds viewer interest reasonably well, providing a modicum of gripping drama and more than a few well-earned chuckles along the way. If nothing else, however, the story should serve as a warning to those who would try to pull one over on an increasingly unsettled, unpredictable, trigger-happy public, one whose imbedded lesson strongly cautions that cost of calculated financial scheming could easily overshadow whatever profits might come from such artful material deception.