One quiet night at the diner is the start of a thrilling 90 minutes. I just loved this right from the start. It keeps the tension for ore than an hour, and though it's multi layered I didn't find it difficult to understand or be engaged in. A good cast is doing a great job. Stephen Lang, Forest Whitaker, Ray Liotta, Ronald Guttman, Michael Sciklis all doing their job.The film starts off with a cop (Forest Whitaker) coming into a diner some minutes before midnight. He right away senses there's something wrong. He expects an unusual situation, but not like this... Minutes before, there's been action at the diner. What is happening? Who's behind it? The start reminded me a lot of the tension in the classic Dog Day Afternoon.The problem is that the film doesn't end in the exciting way it starts. Still I'll give bonus for the first hour. A better finish to the manuscript, and another half an hour would have done it. Such a pity it wasn't quality all way through!

Before i type about the film itself, i would like to discuss my dismay at the so-called actor that goes by the name of Sean Faris. His performance in this film was so bad i was tempted to turn it off, take out the disc and snap it in half. That bad. And just to stick the knife in, his on screen brother is also unwatchable. Trying to make up for their abysmally, cringe worthy roles are Ray Liotta, Max Beesley, Michael Chiklis and what can only be described as a cameo by Forrest Whittaker (why he's on the front cover amazes me, he's in it for 5 minutes). Liotta is as cool as ever and Beesley follows suit in that respect. Chiklis is solid as the leader of the trio of bandits. And as for Whittaker, he's good in the 5 minutes he's allocated. The story starts off mid-way and then flashes back, then flashes forward, then back, then forward, then back... and so on and so on.And whilst that style of film works in certain cases, it becomes a headache in this. It quite simply runs out of gas and i started to not care what was going on. And as for the big reveal at the end; anti climax at it's finest. But never mind that, in films like these the end is a good thing, but as for the last scene in this film....well i'll let you rip your hair out when you see it. If you're looking at a career in acting and you want to know how NOT to act, just watch Sean Faris.

Review: The cast looked really impressive in this movie, but I thought that it was a bit strange that it went straight to DVD. After watching the film, I realised that most of the actors that were on the poster only get a couple of scenes, except for Michael Chiklis who had a awful cockney accent throughout the movie. Anyway, the film seemed a bit cheap and weak. There are many twists which keeps it interesting, but I still think that the director could have done a much better job. All of the actors put in good performances, but its the storyline that could have done with a lot more work. Disappointing!Round-Up: Ray Liotta seems to be in a lot of straight to DVD movies of late, which is a shame because he can act. I have also seen Forest Whittaker in a lot of B movies, which is quite surprising for an actor in his calibre. As for Michael Chiklis, his career seemed so promising after the Shield, but we haven't seen him in anything amazing. As for this movie, it seems like the director was trying to launch Sean Faris's career into the big time, but failing like in many of his other movies.

This movie is evidence that you don't need a large budget or a ton of action to keep an audience interested. I thought this movie was captivating from beginning to end. It isn't a perfect movie - there is a little bit too much coincidence in the story that prevents the audience from completely swallowing the story smoothly, and the end seems a little unfinished in some details. But other than that, the movie is very well done. It's a little strange to hear Michael Chiklis speak with a British accent, but he manages to sell his character. In fact, all the actors do a good job. While low budget, the movie looks slick and professional in every shot. The real star of the movie is the script, which has a lot of twists and turns, enough that I could not see where the movie was heading. If you like independent cinema, this is one example that is very pleasing to watch.