Reviewed by Sam Unsted
Stars John Leguizamo, Donnie Wahlberg, Leo Fitzpatrick, Frank Grillo, JD Williams, Adam Cantor,
Jeremy Davidson, Christine Evangelista | Written by James DeMonaco, Joshua Trank & Todd Harthan
UK certification 15 | UK RRP £24.99 | DVD Region 2 | Runtime 330 minutes | Directed by Steve Shill & Joshua Trank
Often the problem with television shows that are cancelled before the end of their run is they fail to achieve the grand vision of their original manifesto. In example, see even great cancelled series like Freaks & Geeks and Firefly, never quite able to complete what they set out to do despite being wonderful.
The Kill Point has garnered some cultish praise on the internet as another show unjustly cancelled before its time. It’s certainly a small cut above much of the dross on American television, but there are immediate reasons for why this was cut short within the pilot alone. The story follows a botched bank robbery by five Iraqi veterans, led by John Leguizamo as Mr Wolf. He’s joined by misters Rabbit, Pig, Cat and Mouse, all from his platoon in the war and they take hostage all those left in the bank after a firefight with police. The robbers then use a variety of methods in their attempt to escape with the money, all the while fighting the surrounding police force led by negotiator Wahlberg.
It’s a pretty typical heist-gone-wrong situation but the writers have tried to imbue a few deeper qualities, mostly relating to the Iraq experience of the robbers. The writing is very heavy-handed in dealing with this and the story slows to a halt when they have Leguizamo doing his best Pacino-in-Dog Day Afternoon impression outside the bank, trying to rally the support of the crowds. It’s a key problem, meaning that any real feeling we are supposed to have falls by the wayside. The two leads, Leguizamo and Wahlberg just don’t every rise above straight-to-DVD performances and so the real emotion of the story, of which there should be much, just doesn’t work. There are some nice performances, notably from Davidson as the damaged Mr Rabbit who actually has some meat to chew on with his role.
The problems with the writing also rely in a reliance on clichéd situations that you could see in any heist film — the prisoners trying to escape, bonding with their captors, etc. It’s all just a little tame and any tension which is supposed to come doesn’t because they never try anything out of the ordinary. It’s not terrible but this is no lost gem. It’s a passable attempt at creating a glossy mainstream heist drama that doesn’t quite have the budget or class to pull it off. If the writing was better, it might work, but it’s not and it doesn’t. As a curio for all those fans of Leguizamo and Wahlberg who’ve been awaiting a De Niro/Pacino-style showdown between the two, this is a must-own.
EXTRAS * A deeply boring, stock interview package with the key players.