Christopher Russell as Marco and Nobuya Shimamoto as Hiro make a buddy-buddy pair as appealing as Paul Newman/Robert Redford, and as expectantly to be looked for in the future. Russell has the athletic good looks - and hair! - of Tom Cruise in a role that Cruise would certainly turn down, due to the very unDianetics partying and vendettas. What raises the film to being totally Toronto is not only Marco carrying the drug toilet around with him throughout. But also, what I will not give away to future viewers, the identity of the Japanese-speaking PhD in Chemistry who solves our two friends problems. The Tarantino content of guns-and-drugs is treated in a way that calls for the audiences' complicity. The writer/director gets away from the aristocratic attitude on this subject. This is an ORDINARY PEOPLE'S movie.
Review of Gangster Exchange
