Donal Logue ('Gotham') and Gregory Sporleder ("The Rock") are Eddie and Richard, two small-time hustlers and good friends who are tired of being humiliated in life. Yet it happens again when they fall prey to a trap. They then arm themselves and go back looking for some revenge. But they get in over their heads when they also snatch up some cocaine belonging to mob boss Horace Burke (Paul Sorvino, "GoodFellas").
Despite the familiarity of the scenario and the plot (by Australian actor / writer Lachy Hulme ("The Matrix Revolutions")), Canadian director Kari Skogland ('The Falcon and the Winter Soldier'), injects it with enough vitality and hard-hitting violence to make it watchable enough. (And yet, despite all the gunfire throughout, the film is not as gory as one might expect.). It also helps that this does have a highly capable cast, also including Callum Keith Rennie ('Californication') as the sad-eyed Mamet, Max Perlich ("Drugstore Cowboy") as the gun runner, and Joseph Griffin ('Ready or Not') as Burkes' thuggish son. Admittedly, Sorvino could play his kind of role in his sleep by this point, but he's solid as always, and does manage to play Burke with some light-hearted humor. Rennie is definitely the standout. Janet Kidder ("Bride of Chucky") makes her feature film debut here in the small role of Crystal; in real life she's the niece of the late Margot Kidder.
The effective opening does nicely set up the characters of Eddie and Richard immediately, and it does rate as more interesting than the balance of the story. But overall, this is a decent example of violent crime fiction, provided that the prospective viewer can handle a LOT of profanity. The heartfelt friendship between Eddie and Richard does give this little film some poignancy.
Co-executive produced by Antony I. Ginnane, the Australian genre veteran whom fans of "Ozploitation" have referred to as the "Roger Corman of Australia".
Six out of 10.
