**** out of 5

Rating: Null/10 (6 October 2002)

If the idea of an entire two hour movie being solely based on a single bank robbery sound boring than I would have agreed with you. But Dog Day Afternoon is extremely intriguing, why you may ask. Well the simple fact of it is that this film is more than just two hours of footage from inside a bank. First we have the media. We see how the bloodthirsty media will do anything to get their story and will feed the public as much information as they can get their dirty hands on no matter how relevant it is to the situation. We also see that the media seem more content on making heroes out of these criminals than covering the actual story, you think it's unbelievable just look at Charles Manson, this is justified in the film just by hearing the crowds reaction every time one of the robbers steps outside. Then we deal with family, love, identity and homosexuality, that sure is a lot for a bank robbing flick isn't it? To actually enjoy this film you have to dig a littler deeper, scratch a little harder and listen a little clearer to pick up on what is really going on, if not you will probably be experiencing the most boring two hours of your life. Al Pacino is fabulous, as always, as Sonny, the man who is robbing a bank so that he can pay for his lovers sex change operation. But he sees himself struggling not only to find his way out of the mess he is in but to find himself as a man and try to justify his actions. Pacino gets so deep into his character that the suspense created by the film has a very natural feel to it, not to mention that this was also based on a true story and it is very hard to make an audience believe that this has actually happened but Pacino does it beautifully. In the end we see that life is only as hard as you make it, as complex as you make it and as complicated as you make it, to use others as an outlet for you frustration will only dig yourself a deeper grave than you have already made for yourself. I highly recommend this film if not for the message beneath the surface than just for the overall impact the film has.