Sundance review: the late Michael K. Williams illuminates his last film, 892

I consider The Wire the greatest television show of all time. The HBO drama explored the entire lexicon of the drug trade of Baltimore, brilliantly from the very bottom to the very top, seamlessly exposing how race, the political system, power, and class defined corrosive humanity from which there never were any victors, just individuals trying to get by.

The Wire had one of the best ensembles on TV, with practically the entire cast becoming a break-out star due to their outstanding performances (I mean, everyone was fabulous on the show!). But even among this stellar cast, there was one character and one actor who defined just a glimmer of hope and redemption in a truly messed up world: Omar, played by the late, great actor Michael K. Williams.

Williams’ Omar was one of the great roles of the last two decades, imbuing the character with a moral code, humor, dignity, and just multitudes of brilliance that made him the one to root for on the show amidst all the violent chaos. I was devasted last September to find out that the actor had died from a drug overdose at age 54.

I mean listen to co-star Wendell Pierce rhapsodize on the layers of humanity Williams brought to Omar:

It was with bittersweet joy that I looked forward to watching Michael K. Williams’ last film role in 892, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. Williams plays a crisis negotiator, Eli, called in to handle a hostage standoff at a bank being robbed by Brian Brown-Easley (John Boyega), a 33-year-old Iraq War veteran angry at the VA for not giving him the money rightfully owed him. Based on Aaron Gell’s devastating article, “They Didn’t Have to Kill Him,” the thriller offered a compelling story of circumstances that have gone wrong, culminating in this kind of high-intensity situation.

Williams brings a compelling morality to the role, embodying sympathy and a kind of measured integrity that brings clarity to what is otherwise an escalating, chaotic situation. You believe Williams’ Eli will find a way to break through some of the understandable anger on Brown-Easly’s part as well as the police task force trying to quickly end hostilities.

892 represents the amount that the VA owes Brian Brown-Easley,  $892.32 to be exact. After a multitude of unsuccessful attempts to get the financial debacle resolved, the economically struggling and homeless vet—who also suffers from PTSD and has been on disability—decides to take matters into his own hands. He walks into a Wells Fargo bank in the suburbs of Atlanta and holds up two hostage tellers after writing down that he’s carrying a bomb. Throughout events, he makes it very clear that he’s decided on this extreme action to make a statement about how the VA treats vets and that being given money from any other source isn’t the point.

The film is a somewhat predictable thriller, however. It offers an important commentary on our social values illustrated best in Brown-Easley’s conversations with a television producer he converses with after he calls at the local station. Brown-Easley tells his story to producer Lisa Larson (Connie Britton), including the ex-wife and daughter to who he would like to give the money so he knows they’ll be taken care of.

The performances all around are first-rate. John Boyega shows a range of emotions so beyond his most famous role on Star Wars. He persuasively demonstrates Brian Brown-Easley’s escalating frustration,but also his tenderness towards his family and the mixture of emotions once he decides on a make-or-break course of action that he thinks will wind up with him being gunned down. He is at times impatient with the two bank tellers who are held up, but also unfailingly polite at other times.

As the women hostages, both Nicole Beharie (Estel) and Selenis Leyva (Rosa) put in excellent work here, showing a range of empathy but also debilitating fear in a situation no one wanted to find themselves in.

However unsurprising 892 seems at times, it is a testament to the importance of just such a narrative when you find out that the VA to this day still hasn’t rectified the financial mistake that wrecks the lives of so many individuals.

And for that, and also Michael K. Williams, are the reasons to see the film.