Dead Man's Wire

2025

Action / Biography / Crime / Drama / History

23
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 77% · 140 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 77% · 250 ratings
IMDb Rating 6.5/10 10 5144 5.1K

banker kidnapping hostage 1970s dark comedy indianapolis

Plot summary

In 1977, former real estate developer Tony Kiritsis puts a dead man's switch on himself and the mortgage banker who did him wrong, demanding $5 million and a personal apology.

Director

Gus Van Sant Photo
Gus Van Sant

Top cast

Bill Skarsgård Photo
Bill Skarsgård as Tony Kiritsis
Al Pacino Photo
Al Pacino as M.L. Hall
Cary Elwes Photo
Cary Elwes as Michael Grable
Colman Domingo Photo
Colman Domingo as Fred Temple
720p.WEB 1080p.WEB 1080p.WEB 2160p.WEB
970.07 MB
1190*720
English 2.0
R
Subtitles us   fr  
23.976 fps
1 hr 45 min
Seeds 100
1.94 GB
1784*1080
English 5.1
R
Subtitles us   fr  
23.976 fps
1 hr 45 min
Seeds 100
1.76 GB
1784*1080
English 5.1
R
Subtitles us   fr  
23.976 fps
1 hr 45 min
Seeds 100
4.7 GB
3840*2160
English 2.0
R
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 45 min
Seeds 92

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by filmephile 6 / 10

Down to the wire

The film is based on the real-life hostage incident in which Tony Kiritsis held Richard Hall hostage.While the film's opening is interesting and the ending is pretty satisfying, the middle (which is most of the film) does unfortunately drag. You are basically watching Tony hold Richard hostage and for the film's runtime you're wondering whether or not Tony will harm his hostage. That's pretty much the whole movie.Perhaps this would have worked better as a miniseries to help flesh out things. But unfortunately the film as is is rather dull. Themes of capitalism, avarice, and greed are explored here, but it all doesn't really add up to much.What carries this film are the good performances from Skarsgård and Montgomery. I recommend this film, if only for that.
Reviewed by peter0969 7 / 10

Slick 70s crime tale from Gus Van Sant

Watched at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival.Gus Van Sant has always been a fascinating director as his works on Elephant, Good Will Hunting, Gerry, To Die For, Last Days, and Paranoid Park are some of my favorite indie art-house movies ever. Since his last movie in seven years, Van Sant brings a slick, tense and comedic tale about the kidnapping and crime moment by Tony Kiritsis and the tension surrounding the event.Throughout, the production designs, Van Sant's direction and the atmosphere is strong. It helps build a sense of it's time period and the characters that are situated in this tense moment. What Van Sant succeeds is grasping the characters motives, understand their personalities and see through them as human. Paralleling themes about the corrupted and flawed system behind the mortgage and money business, and the conflicts it creates. The writing, while it is pretty straight-forward and predictable, is solid as some of the themes and concepts explored are interesting.All of the performances are pretty good. Bill Skarsard is absolutely fantastic, alongside with the rest of the cast members. I do wish some of the pacing in the second act and certain dialogue moments could improve as some of the moments did feel a bit overlong or strangely paced at times. But overall, it's nice to see Van Sant still got it with his talents.
Reviewed by planktonrules 7 / 10

This is NOT really an Al Pacino film.

Al Pacino receives top billing in this true-life story, though he's probably in the film no more than five or ten minutes. So, if you're watching it for him, you'll likely feel hoodwinked!The story is about a real person, Tony Kiritsis (Bill Skarsgård). In 1977, Kiritsis entered mortgage company office...taking the president hostage and rigging him up with a 'dead man's wire'...a harness of sorts attached to a shotgun aimed at the president! In other words, if police tried to stop Kiritsis, the gun would go off. Why did he do this desperate act? Well, he felt like the company had ruined him financially...stealing his idea for a shopping mall. What happened after? See the film.The acting is generally very good (though Pacino does seem to ham it up a bit) and the story is interesting. However, it's also a film you could either watch or just read the Wikipedia article about Kiritsis. Now I am not saying it's a bad film in any way...it's very good. But the story is simple and if you just want to know how it all works out, read the article.
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