This is supposed to be Gus Van Sant’s comeback? After seven years away, the director of “Elephant,” “Drugstore Cowboy,” and “Good Will Hunting” returns with a strange, oddly inert film.
On the morning of February 8, 1977, Anthony G. “Tony” Kiritsis walked into a bank office in Indianapolis with a sawed-off shotgun and a “dead man’s wire” strapped to the head of Richard O. Hall, president of Meridian Mortgage Company. The story is already stranger than fiction: Tony believed the bank had cheated him and demanded $5 million, legal immunity, and an apology. It’s desperate, absurd, and meticulously planned. Van Sant took that wild story, draped it in a striking ’70s look, and somehow made it dull.
Van Sant clearly loves the era. Every frame screams 1977: grainy film stock, handheld camerawork, production design that recalls his 2008 film “Milk.” Even the music cues feel like a wink. And yes, those films had something special—the cynicism, the realism, the gritty dialogue. Van Sant wants that same feeling, but what he gives us in “Dead Man’s Wire” is mostly style over substance: it’s visually striking, sometimes funny, but never fully alive.
Bill Skarsgård is the one thing that works. Tony is the kind of man who can’t tell perception from reality, and Skarsgård makes him believable: awkward charm, jittery anxiety, nervous swearing—both frightening and pitiful. Colman Domingo adds warmth as a local radio DJ Tony admires. And Al Pacino… well, he’s Pacino: lightly ridiculous, perfectly timed.
The movie wants to be “Dog Day Afternoon,” but it isn’t. Stylish, occasionally funny, anchored by precise performances, but it never ignites tension or envelopment. It admires the ’70s; it doesn’t live there.
Van Sant clearly adores his period detail, but that can’t replace suspense. Tony dragging Hall across the streets should feel terrifying. Instead, it feels oddly inert. Once they reach Hall’s apartment, the film sags further, and the tension never steadies.
For a supposed comeback, “Dead Man’s Wire” is not that essential. Van Sant returns after seven years, but the spark that made his earlier work unforgettable is mostly absent. Then I remembered the last four films he made before taking a sabbatical, and it made sense. This is as inessential as “Restless,” “Promised Land,” “Sea of Trees,” and “Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot.” Now that the comeback vehicle has been seen, all that’s left to be accomplished is an actual good movie.