Directed by Matt Eskandari, Wire Room is an American action film that stars Kevin Dillon, Shelby Cobb, and Bruce Willis.
Justin Rosa (Kevin Dillon) is working his first shift on wire room duty, which a high-tech command centre that keeps watch of dangerous criminals by using hidden cameras. Justin Rosa has a vague set of rules to follow from fellow Homeland Security agent Shane Mueller (Bruce Willis) and Nour Holborow (Shelby Cobb), but soon Justin is left alone to his own devices without much of a clue of what exactly he is supposed to be doing.
While on duty, Justin monitors a criminal whose life is at risk, and he must attempt to keep them alive without leaving the wire room. But his first shift will become more difficult when the wire room comes under attack by corrupted agents wanting to destroy evidence that the room contains.
Perhaps one of the saddest things about this film is the performance from Bruce Willis. He was once such a charismatic actor that would command the screen in any performance he would give, so it very hard to watch him deliver his lines in a different way than he used to. With that being said, I know he is ill and do respect that he had still been working up until this final film, and I do respect his work ethic, even if his performances might not be as good as they used to be.
Kevin Dillon does his best to carry the film and while he has enough charisma to be a decent ‘B grade’ actor, he sadly doesn’t have much material to work with to deliver a very fun performance. But it does feel like he is trying to pick up the slack from the other actors in this film who seem disinterested most of the time.
On top of the film’s less than spectacular acting performances is a convoluted story that predominantly features the main actors performing alone with the characters mostly speaking to each other on the phone. This doesn’t make for a thrilling visual experience and the lack of chemistry shown between the actors may be why the acting performances in this film fall flat.
Wire Room doesn’t look too bad for a film that has gone straight home media and streaming services. It looks like money was well spent on set designs and I admit that I was impressed with the way that the wire room looked. It was full of computers, television screens. It looked exactly what I expected a wire room to look like.
But as much as I was impressed with how the wire room looked, the dialogue is disappointing. The main characters seem to only bicker when they are together. Even when Justin has questions about his job, he would receive verbal abuse as if he is an idiot for not having all of the answers on his first shift. I found this hard to believe or even understand as it just seemed to be mean spirited for no real reason.
Wire Room is not essential viewing by any means. Possibly if you are a dedicated Bruce Willis fan and you have spare time then it might be worth watching once, otherwise seek an alternative.
Wire Room is available digitally, via DVD and Blu-Ray now.