DVD : The Kill Point [2007]

Rating: - Leguizamo and Wahlberg try to get the better of each other in a hostage standoff
"The Kill Point" was an eight-part television series that has the distinction of being the first drama to air on the Spike network. The story is about a group of U.S. Marines back from Iraq who try to pull off a bank robbery in Pittsburgh. They almost get away with it, but then the robbery turns into a hostage situation. John Leguizamo plays Jake Mendez, the sergeant in charge of the operation and who calls himself "Mr. Wolf" in negotiations with the police Captain Horst Cali (Donnie Wahlberg), the police negotiator. In terms of recent television series as points of reference, "The Kill Point" strikes me as a cross between "Kidnapped" and "The Nine," which is not a bad thing.

"The Kill Point" has its fair share of hostage taking commonplaces (except for the television series "Standoff," why are FBI hostage negotiators such idiots?), but having Leguizamo and Wahlberg playing off each other is a major plus. Overall, you will get caught up in the various games being played and wondering when the SWAT team sniper (Michael K. Williams), who is usually seen in most episodes waxing philosophically about his skills or whatever, is finally going to take a damn shot at somebody. Of course the big problem is that you want both guys to win, but the situation becomes more and more one in which that sort of outcome is going to be very difficult to achieve. Because this is a mini-series, it has the ability to come up with some decent variations on the genre. Plus, as a mini-series, it actually has a beginning and an end without leaving out the part in the middle.

Because these are ex-U.S. soldiers there are obviously concerns about what this story says about the war in Iraq. Mr. Wolf's rant against the war, clearly modeled on Al Pacino's "Attica!" scene in "Dog Day Afternoon," is mitigated by the revelation that he is not telling the truth. Exactly what the truth is about what happened over there is never really clear, but ultimately it is a secondary consideration at best because what matters most is not their motives for robbing the bank but rather the fact that they are a well-trained combat unit. One of my favorite parts in the series was when the authorities decide to try and make the hostage takers uncomfortable by turning on the air conditioning and bad music full blast and Cali points out that they are trying these tactics against guys are back from a war whose hellish conditions make these ploys look like a walk in the park. These guys are professionals and they have friendlies on the outside who have their back, and these things combine to make "The Kill Point" something rather different in this particular genre (not quite "Inside Man," but certainly way closer to that than to "Dog Day Afternoon"). Consequently, if you keep watching past the rant, I think you will pretty much find your views on the war supported whatever they might be.

One of the reasons I want to recommend "The Kill Point" is because I think it reinforces the idea that the mini-series deserves to be revived as a major television art form. With each new television season I am becoming increasingly loath to start watching these series that get cancelled way before we get to the end. "Kidnapped" at least was given the opportunity by NBC to finish off the story, although you had to watch the episodes on line, as part of NBC's all-night Sunday line-up, or on the DVD when it came out. In the U.K. you lucky folks are perfectly content to have series consist of less than a dozen episodes, and maybe on this side of the pond networks should get more interested in that idea as well. When episodic shows ruled the day, it was one thing, but in a "Lost" world where gigantic story arcs are the template du jour every show that is quickly cancelled decreases the propensity of viewers to fall for the same trick another dozen times.