A ★★★ review of Dead Man's Wire

What an odd little movie. Much more trying to be just a fun thriller than you'd expect. You really think this is going to be some kind of "oh this guy is doing Saw for real" thing but really, it's mostly a character study of a deeply strange and lonely guy doing a depely strange and lonely thing. As a movie it has no real vitriol for anybody—excepting perhaps Pacino's comically heartless and self-important character—but it's not interested in romanticizing its subject either. Feels very much like the intended application of this movie is that you just watch it and go "oh yeah, the 1970s were craaaaazy" and then go get dinner.