Dead Man’s Wire (2026) Row K Entertainment/Drama-Thriller RT: 105 minutes Rated R (language throughout) Director: Gus Van Sant Screenplay: Austin Kolodney Music: Danny Elfman Cinematography: Arnaud Potier Release date: January 16, 2026 (US) Cast: Bill Skarsgard, Dacre Montgomery, Cary Elwes, Myha’la, Colman Domingo, Al Pacino, John Robinson, Kelly Lynch, Todd Gable, Mark Helms, Michael Ashcraft, Neil Mulac, Daniel R. Hill, Vinh Nguyen.
Rating: *** ½
Films don’t get much more anti-establishment than the crime drama Dead Man’s Wire. You’d have to go all the way back to Dog Day Afternoon (1975) to find one that goes there as boldly. It’s a gripping account of the 1977 standoff in Indianapolis between law enforcement and Tony Kiritsis, a regular guy pushed too far by the system represented by the mortgage company he blames for orchestrating his financial ruin.
In February 1977, Tony (Skarsgard, It Chapters 1 & 2) shows up for his appointment with broker Richard Hall (Montgomery, Stranger Things) with a plan. He was supposed to meet with Hall Sr. (Pacino, Dog Day Afternoon), but he’s on vacation in Florida. That leaves his son to deal with the client irate over the company he accuses of robbing him of a lucrative business opportunity in an effort to steal the property on which he hoped to develop a shopping center. He carries with him a long rectangular box. In it, there’s a shotgun which he affixes to Hall Jr. with a “dead man’s wire”. It’s an insurance policy against anybody trying anything funny. If they do, the wire pulls the trigger and blows the hostage’s head off.
The movie recounts the events of the subsequent three days starting with Tony moving the party from Hall’s office to Tony’s apartment. The police, led by an acquaintance of Tony’s, one Detective Mike Grable (Elwes, Saw), are on them every step of the way from the walk through town to get to Hall’s car to Tony commandeering a police vehicle to their arrival at Tony’s place. The situation becomes a media frenzy with local reporters covering the situation as it unfolds and civilians watching it play out on their televisions. Naturally, Tony has a lot of public support.
The police and feds try to talk to Tony, but he’ll only talk to Fred Temple (Domingo, The Running Man), a local DJ who serves the same basic function as Samuel L. Jackson in Do the Right Thing (1989). His demands are simple. He wants back everything the mortgage company took from him. He wants immunity and $5M. Also, he wants a personal apology from Hall Sr. himself. Naturally, the wealthy company owner, seen lounging by a pool with his trophy wife (Lynch, Drugstore Cowboy), refuses that demand. He’s every bit the rich a**hole, choosing to preserve his image over saving his son’s life.
Dead Man’s Wire is director Gus Van Sant’s best work in years. It’s right up there with To Die For (1995), another film dealing with the media shaping the public’s perception of criminals. The first thing that struck me about Dead Man’s Wire is its aesthetic. It looks and sounds like a film from the 70s with the gritty cinematography (by Arnaud Potier), period authentic costumes (by Peggy Schnitzer) and busy sound design (by Leslie Shatz). I love how Gus allows the dialogue to overlap and compete with environmental sounds. It has a noticeably naturalistic feel to it much like Martin Scorsese’s Mean Streets (1973).
The screenplay by Auston Kolodney, making his feature film debut, has a shaggy quality to it. It follows a few characters throughout the ordeal like the young black female reporter (Myha’la, Dumb Money) doing her first big story. He doesn’t dwell on the idea of a woman trying to make it in a male-dominated profession, but you know it’s there. There’s also the automaton FBI agent (Mulac) doing things by the book and the DJ’s pothead Asian-American colleague (Nguyen, 4400). Everybody is interesting in his or her own way.
The acting is superb. Skarsgard shows his range extends beyond the horror genre. His slightly unhinged performance here makes me forgive him for being involved with the terrible Crow remake. His Tony is a likable enough guy who enjoys his newfound celebrityism even if he doesn’t really know what to do with it. Montgomery is similarly great as a weak rich kid trying to hold it together for the sake of his father’s image. Pacino convincing plays a rat bastard of a fellow who probably sees John Paul Getty as a hero for how he handled the kidnapping of his own grandson. Domingo smashes it as the groovy DJ and philosopher who serves as voice of reason in a crazy situation. Elwes is unrecognizable as the gruff cop who succinctly sums everything up as a “s*** show”.
Dead Man’s Wire isn’t perfect. It’s a little rough around the edges, but isn’t that the very essence of 70s cinema? It augments the movie’s sense of realism. In addition, the movie is consistently compelling and tight with tension as the authorities try to come up with a plan to end the ordeal. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
