Dog Day Afternoon

Maybe it’s the result of seeing dozens upon dozens of movies with hostage situations in them that are tense and exciting and electric. Maybe it’s that the trope is worn out. Maybe it’s that the main characters are treated either like criminal masterminds (250 cops?!?) or folk heroes, but the story unfolds in a way to paint them as buffoons, and Al Pacino’s Sonny as a two-timing schmuck. Or maybe it’s the sterile direction that never captures the claustrophobia of the surroundings or the doomed futures of the two thieves. Or maybe it’s all of it. Or something else. All I know is, this movie feels every minute of its length, but never fills those minutes with very much. There’s long, tiring conversations that vomit character development rather than it being shown or earned. There’s tedious segments that rehash points already made. It just feels long and one-note. It’s not outright bad — in fact, in some places, it’s enjoyably silly, although that probably wasn’t the intention — but mostly it’s just a big shrug of a movie.