Dead Man’s Wire Review – An Entertaining, Taken from The Headlines, Crime Thriller
- Details
- Category: Haute This Issue
- Published on Thursday, 04 December 2025 13:06
- Written by Janet Walker
Dead Man's Wire, from Row K Entertainment, held its world premiere at AFI Fest 2025, presenting the true story of Tony Kiritsis, a small town folk hero, driven to the edge after a business deal goes bad.
The film begins radio voice over setting the scene, it is Indianapolis, Indiana, Tuesday, February 8, 1977, and DJ Fred Temple, played by Colman Domingo, is on the air, bringing love and good will to all his loyal listeners, one of which is Tony Kiritsis, played by Bill Skarsgard.
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Tony arrives at the office of Meridan Mortgage Company, carrying a box, with his arm in a sling and enters office of Richard Hall, played by Dacre Montgomery, and takes him hostage with a sawed-off shotgun. And to ensure his demands are met, he wires the trigger of the shotgun with a "dead man's wire" knot wrapping the wire around Hall's neck.
With the trigger wired, and the shotgun pointing at the back of Hall's head, Tony is able to walk right out of the bank. As we begin to understand, Tony is not the brightest among us, he is one of those guys who has one great idea, a money maker, a life changer, and before he shores it up, he makes the catastrophic mistake of telling the more powerful about his once-in-a-lifetime stroke of genius.
Once Tony and Richard make it back to his house. He is surrounded by police and detectives, many of whom are familiar with Tony. Detective Micharl Grable, played by Cary Elwes, who is unrecognizable in the role, becomes the lead, trying to negotiate Richard's release.
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Tony, who may not be a smart man, understands he has one bargaining chip, and so he proceeds to pull in as much media as possible. Soon he has reached out to DJ Fred Temple and is overwhelmed by fan worship. Even as Temple attempts to talk him back from the edge, the conversation increases his belief that his demands will be met.
Outside the apartment, the apartment complex yard is filled with local news stations as the word of Tony Kiritsis plight has become a major story gripping the nation. As the media frenzy peaks, a local news reporter, Linda Page, played by Myha'la, who has been regulated to the minor stories, sees this as her big break, and refuses to leave or back down.
As the standoff drags on, Kiritsis calls the local police and explains his demands for the safe release of his hostage, and then demands to speak to M.L. Hall, played by Al Pacino, and demands he apologize and admit he was wrong for stealing Tony's land and idea. He refuses.
The hostage situation is approaching some sort of a conclusion and time is ticking. This ushers in the climatic and surprising final act.
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Dead Man's Wire, a taken from the headlines story, is strangely interesting, and once the film begins, we are glued to every scene.
Director Gus Van Sant creates a story that pulls our sympathies in two directions, as we hope for the safe release of the hostage and that Kiritsis will receive what he wanted. The idea of corporate greed, and scam culture, was new when this story occurred, so Kiritsis became a national hero to the underdog, those who had been taken, and to those whose entire life savings depleted.
The ensemble cast delivers excellent performances. Cary Elwes is unrecognizable in this role and with that is free to embody the character in ways that his other roles don't permit. Having a double mask, the character and the character's appearance, allows him to be unrestricted, open, and uninhibited. Dacre Montgomery, a relatively newcomer, is exceptional, and with only a few words he is limited to his reactions, and Montgomery manages to draw the audience into this horrifying trauma. Bill Skarsgard embodies the man on the edge, champion of the common man, and modern day outlaw, and plays him with humor and lunacy.
An entertaining crime thriller, Dead Man's Wire opens in select cities, December 12, 2025, and nationwide January 16, 2026. After its premiere at the AFI Film Fest, the film received a 13 ½ minute standing ovation. Absorbing from the opening scenes, Dead Man's Wire is captivating with outstanding performances. See it.
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Country: US.
Language: English.
Runtime: 105 minutes.
Release Date: December 12, 2025 in select cities, January 2026 nationwide.
Director: Gus Van Sant.
Producer: Noor Alfallah, Remi Alfallah, Mark Amin, Andrea Bucko, Gordon Clark, Tom Culliver, Cassian Elwes, Joel David Moore, Matt Murphie, Siena Oberman, Paula Paizes, Sam Pressman, Vernoica Radaelli.
Executive Producer: Lorenzo Antonucci, Rishi Bajaj, Clark Baker, Lance Barnard, Richard Barner, Robert Ogden Barnum, Eleanore Bingham Miller, Lily Blavin, Ryan Bonner, Tiffany Boyle, Lee Broda, Aaron Brown, Mike Brubaker, Bubba Cash, Michael Leon Cassutt, Nick Cerise, Lara Clear, David Devries, Lee Diamond, Anne Dieruf, Colman Domngo, Oleg Dubson, Veronica Ferres, Jon Gosier, Austin Gray, Kyle Green, John Harris, Matt Hartley, Alan Helene, Christopher Hines, Justin Hurley, Sherry Hurley, Ali Jazayeri, Kyle Kaminsky, Arno Krimmer, Vladislav Lapidus, Theordore Laszlo, Maxwell Loeb, Robert K. MacLean, Thomas Mann, David Mansfield, Nathan Mardis, Eli Massillon, Michael Merlob, William Nobel, Katherine Otto-Bernstein, Julie Pacino, Nicol Panone, Martha Pardue, John L. Pitts, Ramin Pourteymour, Elsa Ramo, Nick N. Raslan, Dan Reardon, Jeff rice, Olivier Ridge, Eyal Rimmon, Jordan Claire Robbins, Emily Hunter Salveson, Guilhad Emilio Schenker, Divya Shahani, Steven sims. Raj Brinder Singh, Nata Stevens, Jay Sullivan, Daniel Taborga, Trey Terpeluk, Olivier Trevena, Victoria Turmina, Adarsh Venkatesh, Cami Winikoff, Nicholas Wirth, Nikulas Wood, Christopher Woodrow.
Writer: Austin Kolodney.
Cast: Bill Skarsgård, Dacre Montgomery, Colman Domingo, Cary Elwes, Myha'la, Al Pacino.
Janet Walker is the publisher, founder, and sole owner of Haute-Lifestyle.com. A graduate of New York University, she has been covering international news through the Beltway Insider, a weekly review of the nation's top stories, for more than a decade. A general beat writer/reporter and entertainment/film critic, she is also an accomplished news/investigative news/crime reporter and submitted for Pulitzer Prize consideration "Cops Conspire to Deep Six Sex Assaults" in the Breaking News Category and was persuaded to withdraw the submission. Ms. Walker has completed five screenplays "The Six Sides of Truth," "The Assassins of Fifth Avenue," "The Wednesday Killer," "The Manhattan Project," and the sci-fi thriller "Project 13: The Last Day." She has also published "Unholy Alliances: A True Crime Story," and "Days, Times, Seasons, and Events: A Collection of Poetry & Prose," which can be purchased here. She is a member of the Los Angeles Press Club, the National Writers Union, and a member of the International Federation of Journalists.
