Simply Perfect

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Absolutely brilliant

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

But unfortunately as things unravel, the movie loses its touch. There are quite a few good actors in it (Chiklis, Reed to name a few) and they're trying their best. For a low budget movie this is fairly well shot too. Of course it's almost entirely one location (with a few exceptions) and you'll either like that or not.For a low budget movie, it's always better to have a few, but interesting locations. So that's a positive side aspect, until you realize there could be more to it. The story, especially towards the end, loses its drive and motivation a bit and gets a little too tricky for its own good. Sometimes simpler is better, if well thought trough ...

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!

Nick Davenport (Sean Faris) is released from prison for robbing a car and his wife Amanda (Nikki Reed) waits for Nick to bring him home. She tells that she is pregnant and leaves him at the Be Brite diner since Nick has scheduled an encounter with his brother Patrick Davenport (Jordan Belfi). When the police officer Will (Forest Whitaker) comes to the dinner, he notes that something is wrong and he goes to the toilet. He contacts Lieutenant Barnes (Marton Csokas) and tells that a heist is taking place before the scheduled hour. Then he sees Nick hidden in the room and he tells that he has called the police, and Will gives his name to Barnes. Out of the blue, Will is shot in the head and Nick is brought to the diner where there is a hostage situation. The British criminal Derrick (Michael Chiklis) and the gangsters Billy (Max Beesley) and Aaron (Jonathan Bennett) have stolen clients and a safe and Derrick has taken an HD from the safe. When the negotiator Jeff Porter (Common) arrives, Lieutenant Barnes tells him that Nick is responsible for the heist. Nick becomes a pawn in a deadly game where the award is an HD. What is the secret of the wanted HD?"Pawn" is a low-budget thriller better than I expected, with a non- chronological screenplay with many twists. Unfortunately, the rushed conclusion with happy-ending does not fit well to the story and I believe that it is lack of budget associated to commercial interests. My vote is six.Title (Brail): "Crimes Cruzados" ("Crossed Crimes")

Generally good acting brings an immediate realism to a low budget film that's otherwise unrealistic in certain ways. Despite a few draggy spots, PAWN is tense and engrossing, with some clever twists. It can be difficult to place who's what in a movie that's this short yet has this big a cast, but that's all part of the fun. If viewed carefully, PAWN will make pretty good sense in the end.Particularly good performances by Sean Faris and the three (Michael Chiklis, Max Beesley, and Cameron Denny) who play the robbers.Definitely worth seeing if you like crime,suspense,and that sort of thing.