Netflix's Weirdest Heist Movie This Year: In the Hand of Dante

Netflix has quietly added an incredibly bizarre crime film to its platform, directed by Julian Schnabel and starring Oscar Isaac. "In the Hand of Dante" is an ambitious production with intersecting timelines that attempts to deftly blend high culture with B-grade crime cinema. The story focuses on the parallel lives of the legendary Italian poet Dante Alighieri, who penned the Divine Comedy in the 14. yüzyıl, and the disillusioned American writer Nick Tosches, living in the milenyum dönemi. Oscar Isaac portraying both characters stands out as the most crucial element that adds depth to the film and keeps the audience glued to the screen. Filled with a complex plot centered around finding and forging a lost manuscript, the film offers cinephiles an unconventional experience.

The film's main focal point is being a violent, foul-mouthed, and action-packed crime story rather than a philosophical drama deeply examining artistic purpose. The Nick Tosches character steps into a dangerous shadowy underworld to steal a lost Divine Comedy manuscript for a black market dealer and have its authenticity verified. Within this process, colorful but over-the-top characters emerge, such as the wild and ruthless killer Louie, played by Gerard Butler, and Rosario, played by Jason Momoa, who is pursuing a blood feud. Director Schnabel drops the viewer right into the middle of a crime thriller with fluid footage shot on a handheld camera and an aggressive editing style. However, the effort to combine high and low culture often turns into a confusing chaos, making the film's two-and-a-half-hour runtime feel even longer.

The production's behind-the-scenes story is just as complex and intriguing as its own narrative. Adapted from the novel published in 2002 by writer Nick Tosches, the film rights were first acquired in 2008 by Johnny Depp's production company. Despite Schnabel being announced as the director in 2011, the project was shelved and plunged into silence for over a decade. The opening of sets through a special interim agreement during the 2023 SAG-AFTRA oyuncu grevi allowed many star actors, including Gal Gadot, to join the project. Following its screening at the 2025 Venedik Film Festivali, the distribution rights acquired by Netflix once again highlight the platform's interest in literary adaptations and independent productions with star-studded casts.

When delving into the film's technical and acting details, Oscar Isaac's performance is seen as the single solid pillar holding the structure together. The combination of street smarts and artistic intellect that Isaac brings to his modern-day character, Nick, turns him into a highly charismatic anti-hero. In the scenes set in 14. yüzyıl İtalya, Dante is exiled by the Papa and embarks on a search for divine inspiration; during this process, his consulting with the wise mystic Jesus, portrayed by Martin Scorsese, is one of the most striking surprises in the film. The director visually separates the two periods masterfully by shooting the modern-day scenes in black-and-white and the past scenes in vivid colors. Unfortunately, the acting of names like Al Pacino and Jason Momoa is considered undisciplined and exaggerated, slightly disrupting the overall balance of the film.

Another noteworthy point is that Gal Gadot fails to create the desired impact in her dual role as Gemma and Giulietta. The scenes where Isaac and Gadot share the frame lack romantic intimacy due to the glaring difference in their acting abilities, weakening the film's theme of resurrecting love through art. The long and continuous camera movements, likely stemming from the director's limited budget, make the actors' shortcomings even more apparent. Despite this, "In the Hand of Dante" stands out with its completely unpredictable and ambitious structure, unlike lazy films that utilize multiple timelines and attempt to merge genre cinema with philosophy. The documentary-style scenes depicting the film's process of verifying the manuscript with scientists and academics bring a breath of fresh air to this bizarre crime tale.