I walked into Dead Man’s Wire with sky-high expectations. Rotten Tomatoes had it sitting at a perfect 100%, and I can’t remember the last time I saw a rating that high for a new release. I was pumped. I was ready. And then I watched it.
Here’s the thing – Rotten Tomatoes got my hopes up for nothing. Don’t get me wrong, this is a good movie. A really good movie, actually. But a 100% rating had me expecting something that would blow my mind, keep me on the edge of my seat, maybe even change my life a little. What I got instead was a slow-burn character study that’s more interested in exploring a man’s desperation than giving you an adrenaline rush.
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The Skarsgård Show
Bill Skarsgård was absolutely amazing. Let me repeat that – AMAZING. In my opinion, this was a one-man show. He was the movie. They could have cast unicorns in the supporting roles and Skarsgård would have been more magical. Is there a movie this guy can’t do? From Pennywise in It to his work in Barbarian, he’s been great in all of his roles. Here, he plays Tony, a man pushed to his breaking point by a mortgage company that he feels screwed him over.
The film takes place during a hostage situation where Tony kidnaps Dick Hall, the son of the mortgage company owner, demanding to be reimbursed for what was done to him. We don’t get Tony’s backstory handed to us on a silver platter at the beginning. Instead, over the course of the movie, you piece together his motives through conversations and tense moments. It’s effective storytelling, even if it requires patience.
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Skarsgård inhabits this role completely. You can see the desperation, the anger, and the pain etched into every frame. This isn’t a villain or a hero – it’s a man who felt he had no other choice, and Skarsgård makes you believe every second of it.
The Supporting Cast
Dacre Montgomery (who you might recognize as Billy from Stranger Things) plays Dick Hall, and he remains surprisingly even-tempered throughout the entire ordeal. He’s quiet, measured, and it’s genuinely hard to tell if he’s sympathetic to Tony’s plight or just terrified. That ambiguity actually works well for the film – you’re never quite sure where his allegiance lies or if he’s simply trying to survive.
Al Pacino shows up as M.L. Hall, Dick’s father and the owner of the mortgage company, but his part is pretty small. It’s nice to see his face, but his appearance doesn’t add any real pop to the movie. It almost feels like stunt casting – you get excited when you see him, but then he’s gone before making much impact.
The Look and Feel
This movie was based on a true story, and the filmmakers definitely didn’t try to add Hollywood glamor to it. It was gritty and so well shot that I really thought we were watching a movie from the 1970s. The authenticity in the production design, the cinematography, the whole atmosphere – it all comes together to create something that feels raw and real rather than polished and processed.
So, Does It Deserve That 100%?
Here’s where I land: I don’t think this movie deserves a 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, but Skarsgård definitely does. Once I wrapped my head around what this film actually was – not an exciting thriller but a representation of Tony’s spiral from being abused by a predatory lender – I could appreciate it for what it accomplished. This isn’t meant to get your heart racing. It’s meant to make you uncomfortable, to make you think about how the system can break people down until they do unthinkable things.
My disappointment wasn’t really about the film’s quality. It was about expectations. When you see a 100% rating, you expect fireworks. What Dead Man’s Wire delivers instead is a quiet burn that slowly consumes everything in its path.
Update: Last night Rotten Tomatoes had it at 100%, I just checked again and now it’s at a 91%. That’s better IMO.
Grade: A-
There are extra scenes during, or after, the end credits of Dead Man’s Wire.
| Rated: | () Language Throughout |
| Genres: | Thriller, Crime, Drama |
| USA release date: | 2026-01-09 |
| Movie length: | |
| Starring: | |
| Director: | Gus Van Sant |
| Writer(s): | Austin Kolodney |
| Language: | en |
| Country: | US |
Plot
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.
RunPee.com owes RunPee Sis a huge debt of gratitude. She sees any movie needed with no complaints and has done so for ten years (even basing Thanksgiving and Christmas family festivities around the seeing films). In 2015 Sis ran the entire RunPee enterprise herself, while RunPee Dan, Jilly and Mom went traipsing off to Europe. Sis is the spider in the web holding the RunPee family together — besides being a funny, well rounded person, and a joyous pleasure to be around. Her favorite films start and end with horror (which thank goodness she’s happy to see, since most of us don’t have the stomach for it) — but also likes silly comedies, sad dramas, and musicals of all types. If you’ve used a Peetime for a scary film, you probably have RunPee Sis to thank for it.
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