The Kill Point is a 2007 Mini Series that aired on Spike TV, about an attempted bank robbery in Pittsburgh organized by a group of disgraced Iraq War veterans who get involved in an armed stand-off with the police when their heist goes wrong and turns into a hostage situation. The cast includes Donnie Wahlberg and John Leguizamo.
Examples:
- Animal Theme Naming: The robbers/hostage takers use animal aliases to address each other: Mr. Wolf, Mr. Rabbit, Mr. Pig, Mr. Mouse, and Mr. Cat.
- Anti-Villain: Most of the bank robbers don't harbor any will towards their hostages, and are former soldiers who felt betrayed by their country. Over the course of the hostage situation, Mr. Wolf releases most of them, even when he doesn't gain anything tangible from it.
- Baby Don't Got Back: Brought up when Horst Cali is replaced as the leading hostage negotiator by a female FBI Agent. The SWAT captain, a Sassy Black Woman, tells Cali in private that the Agent has a flat ass.
- Badges and Dog Tags: Lieutenant Connie Reubens, the SWAT team leader, has done tours in Afghanistan. She says it really pisses her off that the hostage takers are attempting to use their own service background to invoke public support.
- Bank Robbery: It's about a bank robbery that quickly turns into a Hostage Situation due a variety of circumstances forcing the robbers to hole up inside the building, such as an off-duty FBI agent starting a firefight outside, and a security guard from an armored truck getting involved after he drove back to pick up something he lost. They do manage to steal a few million dollars after forcing the bank manager to wire the money to another bank in a way that wouldn't arouse suspicion.
- Bitch Alert: The female FBI hostage negotiatior. As soon as she walks into the room, it's obvious that she's desperately trying to prove her credentials but in the process just comes across as being unable to deal with the Hostage Situation intelligently. Everybody hates her, from the hostage takers to the Pittsburgh PD and SWAT.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: Alan Beck, a powerful real estate businessman in the Pittsburgh area, gets involved in the hostage situation at the Three Rivers Bank when he finds out that his rebellious teen daughter Ashley is among the hostages. After his attempt to use his connections to pressure Horst Cali to prioritize her release fail, he tries to make a deal with the hostage takers on his own accord behind the backs of the authorities.
- Creepy Souvenir: Mr. Rabbit has collected severed body parts from Iraqi Republican Guard soldiers as a sign of respect. By his logic, someone who is as Defiant to the End as the enemy soldier he killed is someone he hopes to one day emulate.
- Disguised Hostage Gambit: The bank robbers' final ploy to escape involves dressing up three of the hostages as bank robbers, and disguising themselves as hostages so they can escape from the scene in an ambulance.
- Expy: Mr. Rabbit is obviously inspired by Mr. Blonde from Reservoir Dogs, being a member of a bank-robbing crew whose violence and sadism disturbs even his fellow criminals.
- A Father to His Men: Sergeant Jake Mendez, aka Mr. Wolf, has earned the undying loyalty of his men by going to hell and back against his superiors for them.
- Friendly Sniper: Quincy, a police sniper stationed on the roof opposite the bank, is often shown making wisecracks about the situation and playfully bantering with his spotter.
- From Camouflage to Criminal: The hostage takers were part of a military unit that saw combat in Afghanistan and Iraq, but were dishonorably discharged after refusing to carry out a Suicide Mission. Some of their old comrades later reunite in Pittsburgh to help them stage a break-out.
- Grammar Correction Gag: Horst Cali constantly corrects people's grammar while they're trying to talk to him about the ongoing hostage situation.
- Hostage Situation: The bank robbers are holed up with their hostages inside the bank for several days, as they're accustomed to siege situations. They do eventually release them one by one.
- I Have Your Wife: In the final episode, Mr. Wolf, Mr. Pig, and Mr. Cat manage to escape from the bank by having their comrades kidnap Horst Cali's wife and blackmailing him into assisting in their getaway by disguising them as hostages.
- Impromptu Tracheotomy: After the bank robbers shoot a female FBI Agent, their Team Medic Mr. Cat performs a tracheotomy on her since her airways are blocked up by blood.
- Jurisdiction Friction: The FBI takes over negotiations from the Pittsburg P.D. after one of their agents, who happened to be in the bank during the initial robbery, dies in the hospital from injuries sustained in the shoot-out. The new FBI negotiator immediately tries to throw her weight around, and proves to be far more incompetent than Horst Cali in dealing with the situation. First, she antagonizes Mr. Wolf instead of agreeing to his comically small demands (he's willing to surrender a hostage in exchange for a birthday cake), then declares that the FBI "doesn't negotiate with terrorists". As Cali points out, this defeats the whole purpose of communicating with the hostage takers at all and means they might as well storm in guns blazing and apologize to the families of the dead civilians afterwards. Some of the things that go wrong are indeed beyond her control, such as an independent sniper trying to kill one of the hostage takers. When Wolf refuses to deal with her any longer and Cali rescues another hostage by giving Wolf what he wants, he is put back in charge of negotations with Wolf and his gang.
- Karma Houdini: Mr. Pig manages to escape from the city while avoiding the police, and ends up collecting the money he and his fellow robbers stole from a Canadian bank.
- Lemming Cops: During the initial robbery, an off-duty FBI agent (who happened to be present in the bank's lobby at that moment) pursues the robbers and immediately starts a gunfight outside the building. A single person against five heavily armed and armored suspects with only her sidearm for back-up. She's lucky a security guard just happened to circle back to back her up, or all she would have accomplished is getting herself and/or innocent bystanders killed. They fall back into the building and turn the whole thing into a protracted hostage situation instead, and she later dies from her injuries in the hospital anyway.
- Lima Syndrome: Most of the hostage takers show a great deal of care for the hostages, and do whatever they can to make their situation more comfortable under the circumstances. The only one to routinely avoid it is Mr. Rabbit, the most violent member of the team. Mr. Wolf is also still prepared to execute one of them to make good on his threat to the police.
- Loud of War: The FBI tries to psych out the hostage takers by blasting loud stereo noise into the bank. Horst Cali has to point out that they're ex-military who are already used to sleeping in a war zone with bombs going off around them. Mr. Wolf starts prank calling the FBI negotiatior until she gets so annoyed that she turns it off.
- Open Shirt Taunt: At one point during negotiations, Mr. Wolf strips his shirt off in front of the bank to show that he's not afraid of getting shot. It also shows off his extensive war scars to the public, as he's cleverly using his military service to rouse support for himself and the other hostage takers.
- Psycho Party Member: Mr. Rabbit, the most violent of the five hostage takers, is a Shell-Shocked Veteran who never really left Iraq. He's constantly suggesting to just execute the hostages, and after he takes over from Mr. Wolf and starts lining them up, the Sergeant is forced to put him down.
- Show Some Leg: One of the hostages, Ashley, tries to distract Mr. Pig, who shows some sexual interest in her and makes various awkward attempts at flirting, so she can grab his gun. Mr. Wolf walks in on them, torpedoing the effort. She later arranges a "date" with him so the other hostages can try to overpower the hostage takers.
- Suicide by Cop:
- Mr. Mouse, the most guilt-ridden of the five hostage takers, decides to walk outside and gets himself shot by reaching for something that turns out to be merely be a sketchbook.
- At the end, when Mr. Wolf is cornered with no chance of escape, he pressures Horst Cali into shooting him so he can "die with honor".
- Train Escape: Mr. Pig is the only one of the robbers who manages to become a Karma Houdini after hopping onto a passing train to escape the pursuing SWAT team.
- Worthy Opponent: Mr. Wolf, leader of a bank-robbing team of former Marines, who engages in an epic duel of wits and will with police negotiator Horst Cali.
