Hostage films are a dime a dozen. Some are good, most are redundant, and all suffer in comparison to Sidney Lumet’s 1975 masterpiece, Dog Day Afternoon. It is a fool’s errand to take on a well worn style of film and make it stand out from the rest. Leave it to Gus Van Sant to throw his hat into the ring with his latest picture, Dead Man’s Wire; a quirky, satirical, thriller based on a true event.

Written by Austin Kolodnay and helmed by director Van Sant (walking a genre road he has yet to travel), the film tells the story of the 1977 kidnapping (and 63 hour standoff) of mortgage broker Richard Hall (Dacre Montgomery) by Tony Kiritsis (Bill Skarsgård in another excellent performance).

Claiming he was screwed over by his mortgage company, Kritsis demanded a public apology and five million dollars in compensation from Hall and the mortgage company that employed him. Tony asserted that Hall and his rich father, M.L. (Al Pacino) purposely allowed him to fall too far behind on his mortgage payments so they could seize his valuable property.

Tony has rigged a shotgun to the base of Richard’s skull that will fire if the “Dead Man’s” wire around his neck is pulled. If father and son refuse to apologize on a public scale, Richard Hall will certainly die.

As Tony, Bill Skarsgård captures the misguided justice-warrior mentality with a wide-eyed, frenetic, intensity. The character is presented as a man with a cause, while Skarsgård elicits sympathy. The actor embodies a desperate man without going over the top. Once the screenplay begins to unravel the deeper layers of Tony’s psyche, Skarsgård matches each reveal, while never losing the flawed humanity of the character. It becomes quite clear that this is not an act of someone who was wronged, but a man who took an ego shot and wants to reclaim what little dignity he had in the first place.

M.L. refuses to apologize. With his son rigged to a shotgun, the capitalist egomaniac continues to belittle Tony, insulting his methods and his manhood. M.L. chides Tony that without children of his own, the kidnapper has no moral high ground to make demands. Pacino plays M.L. Hall with the right amount of disdain and contempt; keeping the shouting down and the character development high. Another fine work from one of the greats.

Dead Man’s Wire spends most of its running time with Kriritsis and his hostage. Skarsgård and Montgomery are able to rest a minute by minute tension; the two actors grabbing the intensity of their characters’ mutually dire situations. For the two men, however this plays out, there will be consequences.

The film occasionally moves outside to showcase its supporting cast. Unfortunately, this is where the screenplay falters and falls into cliché. Linda Page (Myha’la) plays a television reporter out to crack her first real story. Colman Domingo is fast and furious DJ Fred Temple, who narrates the story, using tired voiceover comparisons regarding life, the city, and the hostage situation. Of course, the DJ becomes a part of the story after Kiritsis calls into the program.

Cary Elwes is a standout (and almost unrecognizable) as Grable, the detective leading the operation to save the hostage and “remove” Tony.

Kolodney’s screenplay focuses on capitalist greed, unprincipled men of power, image, and where news stories and tabloid-produced heroes meet. The film does a good job of getting its points across without hammering them into simplistic diatribes, even if its focus is too narrow to leave room for deeper discussion. A solid-enough effort, but far from being “this generation’s Dog Day Afternoon”, as a few people have proclaimed.

As the film builds to its conclusion, it becomes clear that Van Sant is a director-for-hire on this project. This doesn’t mean his work behind the camera is lacking, but none of his Van Sant spark can be found. The picture is competently made, but the filmmaker’s penchant for dark irony and distinct cinematic voice are missing.

While certainly not dethroning Lumet’s as the pinnacle hostage film, Dead Man’s Wire is a good movie. A few earned moments of tension, an interesting true story, and strong work from Skarsgård, Montgomery, Elwes, and Pacino carry this one to a positive filmgoing experience.

 

Dead Man’s Wire

Written by Austin Kolodnay

Directed by Gus Van Sant

Starring Bill Skarsgård, Dacre Montgomery, Colman Domingo, Al Pacino, Myha’la, Carey Elwes, Kelly Lynch

R, 105 Minutes, Row K, Elevated Films, Pressman Films