The Kill Point

Kill Point could easily have turned out as a gripping, even to an extent believable serial about an unsuccessful robbery and subsequent negotiations full of twists. Although at first glance this seems to be rather a worn-out topic (for the past couple of decades at least one good movie like this comes out every year), the writers found their own path to set out on. It’s sufficiently entertaining, with constantly rising tension and climaxes, enough to fill eight episodes and not have to start flogging any dead horses. The main parts are solidly cast and it flows along nicely. And with details that make the result pleasantly peculiar. Like the philosophizing sniper. But it has its downsides as well. The production design is studio based à la the cheapest possible telenovela. But that doesn’t matter so much. What does mater are the screenwriters’ unbelievably irritating aberrations in the form of illogically added B-movie ingredients. Although there aren’t that many of them, mainly in the pilot episode we come across a couple and they are a blot on the otherwise cleverly devised story (for instance the emotional heart-outpourings from Mr Wolf to one of the hostages, sudden illogical reactions from some characters, the ins and outs around father and son, Bell’s ultra-B role as a powerful man and many more). And it’s a crying shame, because otherwise the low-budget Kill Point could easily compete with the best miniseries around. This way, “all" it is is an above-averagely good genre piece. But nothing more. (03/01/2008)