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Anti-heroes make for compelling subjects, particularly in a\u00a0world as unjust as the one we live in, and 1970<\/span>s American cinema has absolutely no shortage of them. Gus Van Sant\u2019s<\/span> Dead Man\u2019s Wire<\/i> revisits the era by dramatising an infamous 1977<\/span> hostage stand-off staged by Tony Kiritsis, who rigged mortgage broker Richard Hall \u2013 who he believed was responsible for his property foreclosure \u2013 to a\u00a0shotgun in a\u00a0desperate plea for \u200b\u201c<\/span>justice\u201d. It\u2019s a\u00a0story of righteous anger curdling into empty spectacle; one that ought to crackle with danger and relevance, given the rapturous reception that Luigi Mangione received after shooting a\u00a0pharmaceutical executive on the streets of New York. Despite the pedigree of its cast and the weight of its true-crime source material, the film lands as curiously muted, a\u00a0handsome but overly familiar retread of hostage-thriller beats we\u2019ve seen many times before.<\/span><\/p>\n The most compelling reason to watch is Bill Skarsg\u00e5rd, who commits fully to Kiritsis\u2019s volatility while being charming enough to justify the support that Kiritis garnered during the 63<\/span>-hour stand-off. He\u2019s sweaty, wild-eyed, and unpredictable, shifting from raging monologues to disarming vulnerability in a\u00a0single breath. This is a\u00a0man whose anger is righteous, but you never doubt the shotgun is loaded and he will deliver on his threat to blow Hall\u2019s head off. It\u2019s a\u00a0performance of true commitment and conviction, but is working harder than the film around him. Opposite him, Dacre Montgomery is effective and heartbreaking as the hapless banker raised by a\u00a0truly hellish patriarch, who spends days with a\u00a0shotgun rigged to a\u00a0wire around his neck, though his role is mostly reactive \u2013 a\u00a0vulnerable vessel for Skarsg\u00e5rd\u2019s fury.<\/span><\/p>\n Van Sant directs with a\u00a0steadiness that occasionally borders on pastiche. He resists sensationalism, which is no small feat given the bombastic source material. The hostage sequences are gruellingly tense, but the film never quite finds a\u00a0rhythm beyond escalation, monologue, negotiation, repeat. For a\u00a0story and subject this strange, the filmmaking flourishes are conservative.<\/span><\/p>\n What does buoy proceedings is the wider ensemble. Colman Domingo, whose inclusion is always a\u00a0balm for the soul, injects warmth as a\u00a0disc jockey caught up and colluding in the spectacle, but Al Pacino\u2019s involvement is more distracting than anything else. His very presence recalls\u00a0<\/span>Dog Day Afternoon<\/i>, the genre\u2019s gold standard, and every time he appears you can\u2019t help wishing you were watching Sidney Lumet\u2019s propulsive classic instead. Van Sant seems aware of the echo but does nothing to address it, leaving the comparison hanging uncomfortably in the air. Visually, while not defying conventions, the film is handsome and Arnaud Potier\u2019s cinematography captures the clammy claustrophobia of rooms where death feels seconds away, while Danny Elfman\u2019s score provides a\u00a0thrum of menace. But these flourishes can\u2019t disguise how ordinary the structure feels. For all its talk of desperation, systemic failure, and prejudice, the film never digs into the broader political context with enough bite.<\/span><\/p>\n There are fleeting glimpses of Van Sant\u2019s more poetic instincts, sweaty close-ups that linger just past comfort, tense silences that could be cut by a\u00a0knife, and a\u00a0subtle but moving performance from Myha\u2019la as a\u00a0journalist using this crisis as an opportunity to prove her mettle. But despite this many bright spots in the end,\u00a0<\/span>Dead Man\u2019s Wire<\/i> hasn\u2019t illuminated Kiritsis so much as re-enacted them<\/span><\/p>\n As a\u00a0result <\/span>Dead Man\u2019s Wire <\/span><\/i>is eminently watchable but struggles to justify its existence beyond the surface. In revisiting a\u00a0story once electrifying and bizarre, Van Sant has erected a\u00a0compelling monument to a\u00a0fascinating tale, but one that is haunted by the ghosts of better films.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nGet more Little White\u00a0Lies<\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n