It might not seem so promising: an eight-hour miniseries about a bank robbery gone awry and the hostage standoff that results.

For starters, didn’t we see something similar last fall on the ABC flop “The Nine”? And on the Fox flop “Standoff”?

Besides, this show is airing on Spike TV, which, with its “Get More Action” programming strategy, hasn’t exactly raised the bar for original drama.

And yet “The Kill Point,” whose two-hour premiere airs 9 p.m. Sunday, turns out to be riveting television.

The premise is simple: A cadre of military veterans botch a quick-and-easy, nobody-gets-hurt scheme to rob a Pittsburgh bank branch.

During the negotiations that ensue, the robbers’ leader goes toe-to-toe with the Pittsburgh police negotiator in a back-and-forth struggle for control. Meanwhile, the hostages amplify the drama, emerging as more than caricatures.

John Leguizamo plays “Mr. Wolf,” the gang leader whose troubled history as a U.S. soldier serving in Iraq makes him suspect but also sympathetic. Donnie Wahlberg plays Horst Cali, whose self-doubts and undermining superiors make his tough job even tougher.

“We go all the way together,” Mr. Wolf tells his comrades as the pressure builds.

Which way it ends will keep you guessing – and watching.