Netflix releases a lot of miniseries every year, and a lot of them fail to justify why they needed to tell their stories in an episodic fashion instead of taking the feature film route. If we take a look at the streaming platform’s 2024 slate so far, Fool Me Once was absolutely atrocious. The Indrani Mukerjea Story seemed like an overlong PR stunt. Baby Reindeer was phenomenal, sure. Eric was so goddamn listless. IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack seemed like a live-action version of the incident’s Wikipedia page. The Perfect Couple seemed so disinterested in its own story. And then there was The Last Night at Tremore Beach, which spent over 8 hours spinning some elaborate tale and then eventually revealed that maybe all of it had been a figment of its protagonist’s mind. Now, we have Bank Under Siege in our hands. Does it justify its miniseries tag? Let’s find out.
Daniel Calparsoro’s Bank Under Siege tells the story of the robbery of the Central Bank of Barcelona that happened in 1981. Around 11 robbers, led by Jose Juan Martinez and Cuevas, entered the premises and held over 300 people hostage for nearly 48 hours. Initially, they asked for the release of the former Lt. Colonel of the Civil Guard, Antonio Tejero, and all those who were arrested after the failed coup attempt that happened a few months before the heist. But then they solely focused on taking all the cash in the bank and making a run for it. However, the mere mention of the release of political prisoners caused politicians and journalists to wonder if there was more to this heist than everyone was being led to believe. So, while police officer Paco, General Aramburu Topete, and every top official of the government tried to identify the robbers and rescue the hostages, journalist Maider started digging into the larger conspiracy that was playing out right before everyone’s eyes.
Bank Under Siege is a history lesson for those who are unaware of the fact that such a heist had happened in Barcelona in 1981. And it serves as a jumping-off point for conspiracy theorists to again speculate whether or not certain members of the government and the monarchy were involved in the incident. I guess there’s some tepid commentary on how those in power grow in prominence because they’re able to exploit desperate people who are ready to act as pawns in a game that they’ve no idea they are in. But I’m not going to sit here and pretend that there’s more to the miniseries than that. All the stuff about journalism is so stereotypical and bland that it made me roll my eyes until they popped out of my sockets. The robbers don’t have any personality to them. Only one of them gets a backstory, and it’s just a rehash of Bonnie and Clyde? I mean, come on, what are we even doing here? The investigation and eventual rescue do not have any sense of intrigue or tension. I’m just supposed to admire the insinuation of a conspiracy that comes at the tailend of the miniseries—that this heist changed the face of Spain? Sure thing.
Bank Under Siege is a good-looking miniseries; I’ll give it that. A lot of effort has clearly gone into capturing the look and feel of the ‘80s through the hair and make-up, costume design, production design, art direction, and set design. Although it never seems like there are around 300 hostages being held in the bank, the set that’s made to look like a bank feels very real. The VFX and SFX teams have done a phenomenal job of transporting the audience to that day in Plaza Catalunya. The green screen effect during the driving sequences, though, is appalling. The coloring and editing are competent. The pacing of the miniseries is fine. But I want to talk to the person or individuals in the cinematography department who were in charge of the camera movements and the focus pulling, because what the hell was going on there? I’m not kidding when I say that all the zoom-ins and zoom-outs made me dizzy. Also, the zooms were oddly jittery, like the show was being shot on a handycam that needed to be retired. It seemed like the makers of the miniseries had hired a bunch of kids to take care of the camera while they were off somewhere chilling. If that’s the case, I hope those kids got paid properly.
The performances in Bank Under Siege were all just fine. Miguel Herran got to flex his muscles (literally) and his acting chops. I think he is one of the most talented actors of this generation; he just needs to secure good scripts and directors. I mean, he was channeling that raw energy Al Pacino displayed in Dog Day Afternoon. Unfortunately, this miniseries is not on par with that Sidney Lumet classic, so I don’t know if Herran’s performance will be as well-remembered as Pacino’s. Hovik Keuchkerian, Isak Ferriz, Juanjo Ballesta, Claudio Villarrubia, Tomy Aguilera, Patricia Vico, Robert Alamo, and the rest of the supporting cast were alright. Nobody really stood out to me in any significant way, but they weren’t bad enough to stick out like a sore thumb either. With all that said, what’s up with Maria Pedraza? She has 15 titles under her belt, and, oh boy, is she bad! I don’t think her inability to emote would’ve been that noticeable if she wasn’t one of the central characters. But since she was in the spotlight for a major chunk of the runtime, her flaws were very apparent. Have you heard the term “serving face”? Yes, it looked like that’s what she was doing regardless of the situation her character was in. It didn’t matter if Maider was supposed to be sad, happy, frightened, or anxious, Maria was consistent about being glamorously expressionless. Well, as long as she is getting people to click on that play button, I guess hiring her was worth it.
Given how Bank Under Siege has two actors from the hugely popular (albeit incredibly overrated) Netflix series, Money Heist, I’m sure people won’t care if I’m giving this miniseries a thumbs up or a thumbs down. Instead, I’ll use this platform to recommend some good heist/robbery movies that you can watch instead of wasting your time on Bank Under Siege (if you’re looking for a history lesson, all the “authentic” information is available on the internet and on our website, via explainers, for free). I have already mentioned Dog Day Afternoon, which is brilliant. Paco and Martinez’s conversation had shades of Michael Mann’s Heat, so do watch that. If you want Heat on steroids, there’s Den of Thieves. Reservoir Dogs is great because it involves a botched robbery and some of the greatest performances of all time. Good Time is fantastic if you can handle the tension. The Town is an excellent choice. In addition to that, there’s Hell or High Water, Logan Lucky, Aankhein, American Animals, the Ocean’s trilogy, and of course, Bonnie and Clyde.
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