Bank Under Siege Review: What’s the Point of this Series?

In this Netflix Spanish TV mini-series set in Barcelona in May 1981, 11 hooded and armed men break into a bank and take 200 people as hostages in an attempt to go through one of the biggest bank heists of that time. As this terrifying encounter puts the police to work in overdrive, a journalist races against time to discover the true motive behind the heist in an attempt to solve it. Based on true events that took place on May 23, 1981, the series is a thrilling cat-and-mouse game to put a terrorist plan to an end.

The action-thriller series consists of 5 episodes, each with a runtime of 40 minutes.

Bank Under Siege Review

This Spanish thriller series does not waste time to jump right into a terrifying heist and put the runtime into gear – lives are at stake in this series and it’s not afraid to show it! There’s a tension underneath that is unmissable and the series tries its hardest to be a tense, gripping narrative that makes us wonder whether there’s more behind the heist than history told us. The real incident was truly a shocking affair for its time but there’s something about this series that didn’t sit right with me.

First and foremost, I found some of the camera angles to be a bit… out of place. Like, for example, there is a conversation between Berni and Maider that feels so tense and uncomfortable that it feels out of place with the rather forgettable conversation that is taking place. There are many similar sequences throughout the runtime that are forgettable moments but are shown in such a tense way that one can’t help but wonder whether we are missing something!

The series switches back and forth between the heist incident, where the motives run deeper than just bank robbery and Maider, a journalist who is interested in making a difference in her first job and breaking the stereotypes of women in journalism. There is a conversation here surrounding sexism that women face in the workplace, but that goes neither here nor there.

I am having a hard time understanding the point of having five episodes—this could’ve easily been a movie and would’ve been quite impactful. The tension slowly goes away as we move from episode to episode and you are constantly left wondering the point of it all. It feels like it’s retelling history without any real reason or any tension. The first shot of this very good-looking series feels impactful but then it becomes so predictable that it’s annoying to watch. The episodes also feel very slow even at 40 minutes because the narrative is dragged out over an unnecessary number of episodes.

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It also doesn’t help that the characters are dull as heck. Every character, whether they have a backstory or not, is nothing short of boring. It’s not even about being relatable or not, these characters have nothing going for them, making you not care about their motivations or actions. Plus, let’s be honest – these people are so predictable. Like, they are exactly as you’d expect them to be in a series like this; it’s almost hilarious. Like, for example, there is (obviously) this one guy in the robbers’ group who is sort of violent and who does drugs – it’s details like these that feel so lazy that it ruins the watching experience.

Bank Under Siege is probably great as a jumping-off point to get into theories about the real incident. It can be interesting to cook something up if one is bored, just as this series can be fun to watch and forget. The performances are fine and, as mentioned, the series looks really beautiful but that’s as much there is to it. I think more well-written characters would’ve made these performances stand out but right now there’s no depth to anyone as such.

Final Thoughts

Bank Under Siege starts to feel so bland after a while that it’s difficult to feel any threats of any kind from the narrative. It feels repetitive and boring and adds nothing to this very full genre that is bursting at the seams at the moment. I feel like we get similar miniseries every few days that have nothing new to say other than rehashing a historical incident and calling it a day. The characters, instead of imbuing a sense of fear or threat, are just flat and have nothing going for them. It might be great for a one-time watch if you’re bored, but I fail to see why one would watch this instead of rewatching something more entertaining.

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