Gus Van Sant’s commercial career peaked with 1997’s Good Will Hunting. Nonetheless, he continues to crank out flicks, with 2026’s Dead Man’s Wire as his latest effort.

In February 1977, aspiring entrepreneur Tony Kiritsis (Bill Skarsgård) goes to an appointment with mortgage broker ML Hall (Al Pacino). It turns out ML’s out of town so instead Tony meets with ML’s son Richard (Dacre Montgomery).

Tony believes the Halls cheated him on a deal and he kidnaps Richard as part of an attempt at revenge. If Tony doesn’t get his way, he claims he’ll take down Richard, with a “dead man’s switch” attached to his neck set to murder the younger Hall’s if anyone tries to kill Kiritsis first.

My opening paragraph probably sounds snarkier than intended. While Van Sant hasn’t enjoyed box office success in nearly 30 years, I suspect he largely feels fine with that, as he never seemed like a filmmaker who craved popularity.

After all, Van Sant immediately followed his Good Will Hunting breakthrough with the perplexing decision to film a fairly literal remake of Hitchcock’s classic Psycho. A director with dollar signs in his eyes would’ve opted for one of the potential blockbusters I’m sure studios tossed his way after Hunting.

Wire actually marks a comeback for Van Sant. It delivers his first flick since 2018’s Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far On Foot.

Van Sant returns with a bang. A tight and lively thriller, Wire provides a return to form for the director.

Honestly, I’ve always found Van Sant to be an erratic filmmaker. For every good movie like Hunting or 1995’s To Die For, we got a dud like 2003’s Elephant or 2008’s Milk.

Actually, I don’t think I’d seen any of Van Sant’s offerings since Milk, though not due to a conscious effort to avoid his flicks. As Van Sant returned to his “art house” roots, his releases went under the radar.

Indeed, it this Blu-ray of Wire hadn’t shown up on my door, I would’ve missed it as well. Though it received theatrical distribution, I didn’t notice it at my local multiplex.

The quality of Wire makes me curious to go back and check out those four movies from 2011 to 2018. It turns into a good indication of the kind of solid entertainment Van Sant can deliver when he decides not to indulge his pretensions.

Footnote: footage of the actual events that inspired the film run through the end credits.

Dead Man’s Wire appears in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. Though more than watchable, the image seemed mushier than expected.

This meant inconsistent sharpness. While much of the flick appeared pretty accurate, a good number of shots became oddly loose.

The film’s palette leaned toward a bland sense of greens and yellows. This appeared intentional but it did leave us with a less than impressive sense of colors.

Blacks seemed fairly deep – if a bit inky – and shadows felt reasonably concise. While much of the movie looked very good, the inconsistencies turned it into a “B-“ presentation.

I also found ups and downs with the movie’s DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack, mainly due to an erratic soundscape. In particular, localization of speech seemed spotty.

Wire came with a fair amount of directional dialogue but the lines occasionally popped up in odd spots. For instance, remarks from characters on the left side of the screen would pop up on the right.

These issues didn’t dominate the movie, as most of the lines appeared in the correct locations. Still, the slippage created distractions.

As for the rest of the soundscape, it emphasized the forward channels pretty heavily. Effects brought fairly positive movement and involvement, while music boasted appealing stereo presence.

The surrounds didn’t get much to do, as they added reinforcement of the front without a lot else on display. This left us with an adequate but less than engaging soundfield.

Audio quality worked fine, with music that showed appealing range and punch. Effects came across as accurate and full.

Speech could feel a bit blah during the instances when localization skidded, but dialogue remained intelligible and largely natural. This ended up as an oddly up and down mix.

No extras appear on this disc.

A kidnapping-based thriller, Dead Man’s Wire reinvents no wheels. I don’t mind, as Gus Van Sant makes it a bright and peppy take on the genre. The Blu-ray comes with inconsistent picture and audio as well as no supplements. This turns into one of Van Sant’s better movies.