Dead Man’s Wire Review [MIFF 2026]

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What’s missing from the film, and I guess from the overall real-world narrative of these events, is just how it affected Hall

The true story of the kidnapping of Richard Hall at the hands of Tony Kiritsis is nothing short of bizarre and horrific, really. However, this film from Gus Van Sant is much more focused on the bizarre nature of the whole thing, for better or worse. 

When he believes that the people who lent him a loan for land he planned to turn into a supermarket screwed him over and ended up pushing him into having to make repayments, Tony Kiritsis (Bill Skarsgård) decides that violence is the only option. He heads into the building to meet with the owner (Al Pacino), but is instead met by his son, Richard Hall (Dacre Montgomery), and decides to still follow through with his plan. After going into an office, he ties a ‘dead man’s wire’ between a shotgun pointed at Richard’s head and sets up a scenario in which if he attempts to run, the gun will go off, and if anyone shoots Tony, the gun will also go off. But he doesn’t just hold out in the office. He marches the two of them down a busy street, into a car in plain view of many police who can’t really do anything, takes a police car back to his apartment and sets up there for several days of negotiations. 

What he wants, more or less, is to be given what he feels he is owed in dollars, to be granted immunity from the police for the crimes he is now committing, and then to have M.L. Hall apologise for all the wrongdoing he has done. That last one in particular, being rather important to Tony.

This film is presented in the same sensational manner as the media portrayed these events. With Linda Page (Myha’la) as an up-and-coming reporter using the event to help get her push onto television. And thanks to a wild performance from Bill Skarsgård as Tony, who is well suited to these intense roles, he’s able to make it work. A man wiring a shotgun to another man shouldn’t be funny. But the frenetic energy of it all, the apologies, offers of milk with ice, and discussions around radio show host Fred Temple (Colman Domingo) and his love for his music and hosting all make it darkly humorous.

What’s missing from the film, and I guess from the overall real-world narrative of these events, is just how it affected Hall. We get a cliff note at the end of the film, but it really is just a cliff note in a story that sensationalised violence. The public took Tony’s side because, well, ‘screw these big suits screwing over the little guy.’ And even when that is true, the film has little interest in exploring beyond portraying the events as they were, rather than what they may represent deep down.

[Dylan attended a screening thanks to the Melbourne International Film Festival]