Marianne Graves is a successful lawyer completing a business deal in Detroit, Michigan. At a gas station, she crosses paths with a man that looks suspiciously like her ex-fiancé, Rick Jarmin, who disappeared 15 years previously and was presumed dead. The man feigns ignorance and Marianne leaves; he later makes a call saying that he has been recognized and needs to be moved. Rick helped convict a drug-dealing DEA agent named Eugene Sorenson and was placed in the witness protection program. Unfortunately, his old handler has retired and his new handler, Joe Weyburn, is a corrupt FBI agent working with Sorenson. Sorenson is released from prison after serving his sentence; his partner, Albert "Diggs" Diggins, picks him up and they set out to kill Rick for revenge and to smooth the passage of their latest deal with drug dealers. Marianne returns to confront Rick just as Sorenson and Diggs show up at the gas station with guns blazing. During the gunfight, Rick gets buckshot in his buttocks and his kindly old boss is killed. Marianne escapes with Rick, but Sorenson and Diggs pin the boss's murder on Rick. They are forced to goon the run as Weyburn wipes out Rick's file and sends police to catch them. To clear their names, Rick needs to reach his old handler. They use contacts from Rick's former life-in-hiding, including at a beauty salon where he was a star employee, and an old flame, a veterinarian who removes the buckshot. During a night spent in a hotel room, Rick tells Marianne everything that happened 15 years ago. They share their feelings and have passionate sex. They reach the home of his old handler and find out he has Alzheimer's disease and thus doesn't remember Rick. Sorenson, Diggs and Weyburn show up, so Rick and Marianne retreat to a nearby zoo where Rick once worked. He releases animals from their cages to assist in their defense, and all three men are killed in various ways by the animals. Wounded, Rick winds up suspended over a tiger in a pit, requiring Marianne to save him. When she is not quite able to reach him, he offers her the extra incentive of marriage and children, which does the trick. They are then seen boating into the sunset in the Caribbean.
Bird on a Wire gained a mixed to negative reception. The film holds a 32% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 22 reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.
Box office
Bird on a Wire debuted at #1 at the box office with $15.3 million and went on to gross over $138.6 million worldwide.
