![‘Dead Man’s Wire’ Review: Gus Van Sant Delivers Sturdy, Simple Thrills With His Best Movie In Years [Venice]](https://cdn.theplaylist.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/02152743/107325-DEAD_MAN_S_WIRE_-_Bill_Skarsg__rd_and_Dacre_Montgomery__Credits_Stefania_Rosini_.jpg "‘Dead Man’s Wire’ Review: Gus Van Sant Delivers Sturdy, Simple Thrills With His Best Movie In Years [Venice]")
Director Gus Van Sant made his name through a series of queer cinema classics like “Mala Noche” and “My Own Private Idaho,” and then solidified his status as a versatile storyteller with prestige fare like “Good Will Hunting” and “Milk.” Perhaps it’s best not to mention what followed that, given how he’s wandered in a bit of a purgatory between indie and studio filmmaking scales as the business slowly choked out the mid-budget adult drama where he excels.
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Calling “Dead Man’s Wire” a return to form for Van Sant would be incorrect. In style, he’s never really made a film quite like this 1977-set thriller, which follows an ordinary Indiana man taking his mortgage broker hostage. Nonetheless, there’s something immensely pleasurable in watching a consummate craftsman once again connect form and content.
“Dead Man’s Wire” has the breezily watchable feel of a Sunday afternoon cable TV watch. While that might sound like damning with faint praise, it squarely locates Van Sant’s work in a tradition of sanding down the spikier edges of ’70s New Hollywood house style. This film has the added benefit of being set in that time period and mirroring some of the era’s upheaval in the plot. Throwing in Al Pacino, star of the similarly frenetic hostage classic “Dog Day Afternoon,” to ham it up in an entirely sedentary role only helps strengthen the connection.
By no fault (or design) of its own, “Dead Man’s Wire” also arrives at a moment where its populist anger feels reflected in contemporary headlines. The story chronicles a three-day holdup by a disgruntled real estate developer, Tony Kiritsis (Bill Skarsgård). Seeing no better economic prospects through legitimate means following a mortgage deal gone south, he conspires to kidnap his banker, Richard Hall (Dacre Montgomery). Tony wants money, yes, but also a public apology. Using the titular device, a hand-made claptrap that will fire a sawed-off shotgun if Richard attempts to run, he sets up a thrilling standoff that captures the public imagination.
Tony sees his role in orchestrating a spectacle as something akin to that of a reality TV producer before such a position existed. He ropes in radio DJ Fred Temple (Colman Domingo) as a key intermediary between himself and the police in negotiations. The public begins to take notice, too, thanks to the eye of an ambitious local news reporter, Linda Paige (My’hala). Her bosses at the station see a bonanza for ratings, even going so far as to openly profess they will pay any fines stemming from broadcasting violence live if the situation goes south.
It never gets quite deep enough into the characters to draw much drama out of their internal conflicts. Given how schematic the standoff becomes, Austin Kolodney’s script can get away with rendering most figures on screen as simple archetypes. Only Bill Skarsgård’s animated performance brings some unpredictability to each scene. In his hands, Tony is both bumbling and brilliant – frequently at the same time.
Skarsgård recognizes a duality in the character that isn’t present anywhere else in “Dead Man’s Wire.” The natural conclusion of a hostage thriller is some verdict on what compelled someone to commit such an act, be it from a jury or the barrel of a gun. The film gets a little too heavy-handed in explaining what might have been best left for audiences to discover by doing their own research on the case after watching.
“Dead Man’s Wire” also half-heartedly attempts to flip the script and indict the broader ecosystem that enables Tony’s sensationalism, but it never hits the target. What feels novel and transgressive to the characters in 1977 now feels commonplace for contemporary viewers, and Kolodney does not make the case that this hostage situation is either the first or the craziest of its kind. If anything, the film highlights that the media and law enforcement combine forces to achieve a mutually beneficial outcome, but stops just short of condemnation.
The film is easiest to consume merely as a series of entertaining events strung together neatly by editor Saar Klein and enlivened by a jaunty Danny Elfman score. In other words, it’s engaging to watch without requiring viewers to completely turn off their brains. Van Sant makes “Dead Man’s Wire” move like a well-oiled machine, even if he can only get so much mileage from an old vehicle. Simple, familiar pleasures are still pleasures. [B]
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New York-based freelance journalist whose writing appears regularly on Decider, Slant, Slashfilm, and The Playlist, covering film with a focus on cultural context.
