Richard Crouse

SYNOPSIS: Based on a true story, “Dead Man’s Wire” stars Bill Skarsgård as a man who takes matters into his own hands when he becomes convinced his bank schemed to financially ruin his life. “This loan company’s done me wrong,” he says.

CAST: Bill Skarsgård, Dacre Montgomery, Cary Elwes, Myha’la, Colman Domingo, and Al Pacino. Directed by Gus Van Sant.

REVIEW: Echoes of gritty 1970s cinema flow through “Dead Man’s Wire,” bringing back memories of classic character driven crime dramas like “Dog Day Afternoon.”

Set in 1977 Indianapolis, the story unfolds as Tony Kiritsis (Bill Skarsgård) shows up at the Meridian Mortgage Company demanding a meeting with its president M.L. Hall (Al Pacino). A regular visitor, he’s welcomed in by Hall’s son, mortgage broker Richard (Dacre Montgomery), who agrees to the meeting in his father’s absence.

In Hall’s office Kiritsis reveals the real reason for his visit. “This loan company’s done me wrong,” he says. “They set me up and schemed to ruin my life.” Kiritsis claimed his plan to develop a 17-acre piece of land into a shopping center was sabotaged by M.L. Hall, leaving him unable to pay back a $130,000 loan. Now, he’s demanding restitution in the amount of $5 million and an apology.

Rasing the stakes, Kiritsis takes Richard hostage, with a sawed-off shotgun wired with a “dead man’s wire” from the trigger, a booby-trap designed to fire and kill the hostage if Kiritsis is shot or released pressure.

A mix of social commentary and crime, “Dead Man’s Wire” is an urgent, tautly told story of desperation and anti-capitalism. Although set in 1977, in the post Luigi Mangione world the distrust of institutions feels timely.  Strip away the wide collars and bell-bottomed jeans and replace with contemporary fashion, the story would feel very much of the moment.

The no-frills pleasure of this retelling of the tale allows Skarsgård to pull focus as the jittery Kiritsis. He manages something remarkable within the performance, lacing unlikely humor into his portrayal of a desperate man making unreasonable demands, but more than that, he makes Kiritsis sympathetic. That’s tough to do when the person he shares most of his scenes with has a shotgun strapped to his head, but Skarsgård plays him not as a bad man, but a man who has run out of options. A guy who just wants respect and is willing to go to extremes to earn it. He’s part everyman, part goofy anti-hero and part folk hero to anyone who has ever felt like they’ve received unfair treatment from any large entity.

It’s no coincidence that Al Pacino, star of “Dog Day Afternoon,” is in the cast of “Dead Man’s Wire” as echoes of Sonny Wortzik, the character he played in that film, reverberate throughout Skarsgård’s performance.

“Dead Man’s Wire” is an entertaining film, with a charismatic lead performance and a stranger-than-fiction story that moves like a rocket, stopping only to showcase the desperation and heartache that inspired Kiritsis’s outrageous actions.