105 min | R | December 12, 2025 | Rowk Presents
Hip and fast-moving melodrama that doesn’t take itself too seriously. Lots of nice visual touches, and a really strong performance from Colman Domingo as the DJ. Glows up the based-on-true-life characters as Dread Pirate Cary Elwes and It-clown Bill Skarsgard. Not exactly airy but still light enough to not take too seriously.
The story is oddly told and endearing. Strong performances across the board, but this is also a typical Gus Van Sant movie with an overly inflated sense of its own importance. It felt like they undersold the insanity of Tony Kiritsis, the main character who strapped a dead man’s switch to a mortgage banker and held him hostage for 63 hours demanding $5 million and an apology.
Colman Domingo steals scenes as Fred Temple, the smooth radio DJ who becomes an unlikely hostage negotiator. Bill Skarsgard commits fully to the unhinged desperation of Kiritsis, though the script keeps pulling back when it should lean in. Cary Elwes shows up as the banker, and Al Pacino is here too, because of course he is.
Van Sant brings his usual visual flair. The period detail feels authentic without being showy. But there’s a tension between the film’s desire to be a breezy crime caper and its subject matter, which is genuinely disturbing. The real Kiritsis was a deeply troubled man who terrorized someone for days. The movie wants you to find him charming.
It works more often than it doesn’t. The pacing keeps things moving, and the performances carry the weaker stretches. Just don’t expect it to grapple with what it’s actually about.