written by: Austin Kolodney
produced by: Cassian Elwes, Joel David Moore, Tom Culliver, Veronica Radaelli, Sam Pressman, Mark Amin, Remi Alfallah, Noor Alfallah, Siena Oberman, Andrea Bucko, Matt Murphie, and Paula Paizes
directed by: Gus Van Sant
rated: R (for language throughout)
runtime: 105 min.
U.S. release date: December 12, 2025 (limited), January 9, 2026 (wide), and January 16, 2026 (wider)

The last time veteran director Gus Van Sant released a film was back in 2018 with “Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot”, a dramedy based on the memoir of the late alcoholic quadriplegic cartoonist John Callahan. He was quite a character, and now the director has returned to focus on another real-life character. “Dead Man’s Wire” is a “based on a true story” crime thriller about an event that took place almost 50 years ago in Indianapolis and received national attention. It’s a “I’m mad as hell, and I’m not gonna take it anymore” story that may seem relevant to those who have followed the Luigi Mangione story from December 2024.

Shot in a verité style with a gritty, grainy 70’s aesthetic, reminiscent of the era, an economic screenplay by Austin Kolodney, and Van Sant’s reminder that national disillusionment isn’t solely a current affair.

It’s a bitterly cold Tuesday morning on February 8, 1977, and a strange sight is seemingly missed by all in downtown Indianapolis. A man in a short-sleeved, button-down shirt is about to enter a building, wearing a left arm sling and carrying a long sealed cardboard box under his right arm. He nervously tells the concierge in the lobby that he is there to see the chairman of Meridian Mortgage, M. L. Hall. When he is told that Hall is on vacation in Florida, the man becomes agitated and states he will settle for a meeting with Hall’s son, Richard “Dick” O. Hall, who serves as director, instead.

The man is Indianapolis resident Tony Kiritsis (Bill Skarsgård), and once Dick Hall (Dacre Montgomery, “Stranger Things”) greets him, they convene at his office on the fourth floor, and he kicks off what will become a nationally publicized event for the next 63 hours.

Once Don Hall’s office door is closed, leaving him and Tony alone in his office, and in a matter of seconds, Tony points a .38 pistol at Don. He proceeds to remove a sawed-off Winchester shotgun from the box, and ties it around Hall’s neck and connects it to his right hand (which is close to the trigger) as a dead-man’s line (or wire). This means that if anyone were to attack or shoot Kiritsis, the shotgun would go off and blow Hall’s head off. Of course, the same thing would happen if Hall tried to escape. From the office, Kiritsis calls the police and matter-of-factly proclaims that he has taken a hostage and the situation should be taken seriously.

The attached pair eventually leaves the office building and commandeers a police car to Kiritsis’ apartment, which has windows rigged with triggered explosives so no one can break in or shoot from afar. Kiritsis feels he’s been cheated out of a real estate deal by Hall and his father, a plot that he was hoping to develop into a grocery store and a strip mall. In reality, Kiritsis had fallen behind on mortgage payments on the property, and Hall had refused to give him additional time to pay. Somehow, Kiritsis became convinced that the elder Hall had wanted the property for himself, claiming it had gone up in value and could be sold at a high profit.

With the police and local news outlets surrounding the Crestwood apartment complex where Kiritsis lives, tension rises as Hall’s “dead man’s wire” remains tightly around his neck. From the outset of his open dialogue with the authorities, it becomes clear that Kiritsis is intent on making everyone aware of his situation and motivation through his profane epithets and accusations. Policy Chief Gallagher (Todd Gable) is on the scene and has begun a dialogue with the irritable Kiritsis from the kidnapper’s home phone. Also present is Detective Michael Grable (in indistinguishable Cary Elwes), who seems to be bothered by what he perceives to be a “shit show” (and he’s not far off). So, what does Kiritsis want? He wants his debt forgiven and an apology from M.L. Hall (Al Pacino).

At the outset of “Dead Man’s Wire”, Van Sant establishes the sights and sounds of Indianapolis before he even introduces Kiritsis. One of which is local disc jockey Fred Temple (Colman Domingo), a velvety-voiced figure popular on local airwaves. It’s one of many ways Van Sant establishes the setting of the time, when people tuned in to their radios for music and news, and there were only three channels (ABC, NBC, and CBS) providing national programming and news coverage. Van Sant and screenwriter Austin Kolodney also include Temple because, in real life, Kiritsis was an avid listener of radio newsman Fred Heckman on WIBC (1070 AM) and called the station from his apartment while holding Hall hostage. Skarsgård’s Tony does the same here, acquiring Temple’s personal number.

The DJ is surprised and reluctant at first, but is eventually on board to help with the unbelievable situation. This is also one of many elements in “Dead Man’s Wire” that show viewers just how different our current environment is. Consider how such a situation would be covered now, compared to how it would have been covered without 24/7 news coverage and the internet.  While hostage situations may not be as common as shootings in the States nowadays, it is fascinating to see how the media scrambles over how to cover this here.

Unsurprisingly, something of a rabid fanbase develops as the general public learn more and more about Kiritsis. He becomes something of a “folk hero” (much like today’s Mangione) with many relating to The Man destroying his alleged pursuit of The American Dream. However, they don’t know all the details about Kiritsis and his mortgage company, and therefore resemble a lot of today’s online commentators who spout their theories and limited perspectives.

In an attempt to add real people on the ground, Van Sant and Kolodney include a subplot involving an eager local reporter and her cameraman, both of whom seem fictionalized for the film. Reporter Linda Page (Myha’la) is young and ambitious, someone male reporters usually sideline, scrambling to get as much footage as she can with her videographer, John (John Houseman). They stumble onto the scene early and hold on to it tightly, even though the higher-ups want to take it away from the pair. Her character becomes something of a narrator here (or an exposition expert), mainly as new developments unfold in the hostage situation. Van Sant and editor Saar Klein (“The Thin Red Line” and “Almost Famous”) incorporate actual archival news footage narrated by an older white male anchor, which ultimately draws us away from Page’s coverage.

Much of the film’s storyline is loosely inspired by the 2018 documentary “Dead Man’s Line”, directed by Alan Berry and Mark Enochs. If you haven’t watched it yet, you’ll be fine going into Van Sant’s film. But if you have (like me), you’ll find this thriller misses a few key points and ultimately miscasts the role of Tony Kiritsis. In the documentary, it’s apparent that many locals, especially those in law enforcement, knew Tony pretty well. There’s a hint of that here with Detective Grable indicating he knows Tony. Still, we’re also missing the awkward (albeit somewhat chummy and sometimes humorous) back-and-forth we see Tony engage in with the officer and reporters who crowd him and Hall.

Skarsgård has proven himself to be a versatile actor, recently going from Pennywise to The Crow to Nosferatu, and he’s good here. However, if you’re aware of what the real Tony Kiritsis looked like and how he behaved, there are some glaring discrepancies in his performance here. Most notable is how Kiritsis was a short, middle-aged fellow with a penchant for profanity, who, curiously, refers to people as “baby” (as if they would use “man” at the end of a sentence). The black-and-white archival footage of Kiritsis is the most curious and “entertaining” (for lack of a better word) aspect of the documentary. Some of that footage is seen during the end credits of “Dead Man’s Wire”, as has become a staple of many “based on a true story” movies,  especially recent ones like “Song Sung Blue” and “The Smashing Machine“. Ironically, both of those movies were also inspired by previously released documentaries, which are often more informative and engaging.

Another note on casting: Pacino is too distracting here. Sure, his name probably helped get the movie greenlit, but he’s in it for a total of about ten minutes, if that. His use of a bizarre Foghorn Leghorn accent is odd, and the fact that all his scenes are of his character on the phone from Florida gives new meaning to the phrase, “phoning it in”. It’s also odd to see Van Sant alumnus Kelly Lynch (“Drugstore Cowboy”) as Pacino’s wife, basically there to utter one line. Talk about taking you out of a film. Yikes.

Again, you’re better off coming in cold to “Dead Man’s Wire”, without any knowledge of the actual events or without having seen the documentary. On that note, it would be good to watch the documentary after seeing Van Sant’s movie, to provide more context and a better understanding of what transpired.

RATING: **1/2