This mock documentary-thriller concerns two down-on-their-luck drug addicts who attempt to stage a robbery at a convenience store to raise some dope money. However, what was meant to be a simple robbery soon goes horribly wrong, and when the men take the customers of the store hostage, the would-be burglary escalates into a potentially deadly standoff with the police. Director Max Allan Collins staged Real Time: Siege at Lucas Street Market so that it would appear to have been captured entirely by the store's security cameras, video camera used by the police, and newsreel footage shot by a local television station. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide