Gus Van Sant has a certain creative affinity for, and a mild, sometimes cautious sympathy with eccentric real characters. In the extreme it applies to each of the subjects of his ‘Death Trilogy’, though also to a degree his portraits of the eponymous gay rights icon in Milk and niche underground cartoonist John Callahan in Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot. Tony Kiritsis is another one of these figures, whom Van Sant is clearly fascinated by and whose grievance he relates with in broad terms if not perhaps the specifics of his personal issues, actions, and mindset -a man framed as right and wrong in equal measure.
Dead Man’s Wire is an extremely detailed recounting of a hostage situation that took place in Indianapolis in 1977. Kiritsis, played by Bill Skarsgård, went to the Meridian Mortgage firm for an appointment with its wealthy founding broker M.L. Hall (Al Pacino), instead getting his son Richard (Dacre Montgomery) filling in for his vacationing father. Feeling cheated out of a land purchase he made to develop a shopping mall that he was unable to keep up with the payments for, Kiritsis takes Richard hostage using a shotgun wired to Richard’s neck rigged to go off if he attempts to escape or take drastic action. Amid a police and media situation he holds up Richard in his apartment, itself booby-trapped with explosives, until his demands of a formal apology and debt forgiveness are met whilst also invested in ‘exposing’ Meridian’s corruption for the world to see.
Van Sant accentuates the biographical elements of the story quite interestingly. From the moment that the kidnapping is exposed to witnesses, he begins breaking the action up with black-and-white stills and inserts that appear to be grainy television footage from the real event, only seen to be recreations when the characters themselves appear in the forms of these actors. Still, the choice is effective at grounding the tension, in addition to being just a neat artistic trick. It shifts perspective as well away from Kiritsis and onto the lens of the media, another of the prongs of focus for the movie. It is probably the least developed and most formulaic thread -a young journalist played by Myha'la looking to make this situation her big break as a reporter -though she engages some curious, relevant personalities including Kiritsis's brother. The vantage point of the police action is taken as well, and so is that of local radio D.J. Fred Temple (Colman Domingo) who functions as a communication middle-man when Kiritsis contacts him to broadcast his side of the story. Van Sant weaves in and out of each of these organically and chronologically, creating a very precise account structured like a documentary re-enactment but substantively played as a thriller.
And it is quite a good one, particularly at the heart of the film in that apartment with Kiritsis and Richard, where Kiritsis has created a perfect trap for his captive and despite his miasma of priorities and distractions is highly vigilant. At one sharp point Richard attempts to do the thing often seen in these movies and sneak hold of a pen to either free himself or use as a weapon later only for Kiritsis to catch him in the act. He remains tied to a chair as Kiritsis escalates the stakes for them both, while also in a warped kind of way attempting to humanize himself for Richard. And it is a very intense pair of performances from Skarsgård and Montgomery, as the former vacillates between gestures of friendliness and hospitality and visceral spiels berating Richard and his father, while Richard does what he can through sweat and terror to keep him gratified. It is handy that the movie itself psychoanalyzes Kiritsis for his ego and aggression through an FBI profiler. That need for attention subtly superseding his cause is clear in Skarsgård's performance, as he becomes much more animated when talking with Fred and grandstanding about his injustice.
It is an injustice that resonates, both with the people who hear it then and the audience of this film, very much intended by the way Van Sant frames it. Perhaps not so much with regards to Kiritsis's particular situation -he does come off as a fairly irresponsible person whose claims are pretty dubious at best. But his larger vendetta against big exploitative mortgage brokers is understandable -he may not have actually been mistreated but clearly others have, and Van Sant cultivates very little sympathy for Meridian Mortgage as an institution and for M.L. Hall specifically, who shows no concern for his son personally and when reached by phone refuses to apologize to Kiritsis -instead berating him further. It lines up with Richard's comments to Kiritsis about not having had the easy life and upbringing that his captor thinks -in one of the only beats of genuine connection the two share. Richard himself is empathetic, from the moment of his kidnapping he is essentially the point-of-view character of the scenes with Kiritsis -including a couple flashes of nightmares he has while sleeping in the bathtub of Kiritsis's apartment. But he too is indicted by the movie for his participation and wilful ignorance, all through this narrative, towards the real issues with his company.
Still, though the fight is identifiable and perhaps even righteous, Kiritsis is not -his erratic behaviour and responses presented with sufficient tension from all parties -and in particular his positive reception towards a press conference and apparent absolvement of his crimes, which he takes to with an uncharacteristic lack of suspicion. But it does feel very real to his manic energy. The film builds a solid level of intensity out of its climax, from each party involved, translating the anxious pace through a script that Richard starts reading from that an unsatisfied Kiritsis eventually takes over with, to the trigger-ready police officers and a contentious media atmosphere. It is a believably realistic tenor of chaos, whenever Kiritsis is public-facing, adding to the movie's credibility.
Where the movie is ultimately lacking is in character development -a conscious choice by Van Sant and screenwriter Austin Kolodney. We don't learn very much about Kiritsis or spend much time in his head. The purpose of this distance is clear enough, but little is known about the other point-of-view characters as well. The result is that while the movie is engaging it feels at times a touch too clinical and objective -mainly in the cop and media portions of the story. Cary Elwes plays a sharp-tongued officer who knew Kiritsis previously, and he's a fun character until he is backgrounded by the latter half of the narrative.
But Dead Man's Wire is still a very compelling account of a unique crime, perfectly offbeat for Gus Van Sant. It is a movie that feels relevant still, through the issues Kiritsis raises about corporate giants like Meridian Mortgage even in spite of the validity of his own claims. A movie that ends in a nebulous space of consequence (if you know what happened to Kiritsis in the aftermath), and yet it doesn't feel like it; its choice of music to send you out on alone gives the game away.
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