Amidst a thicket of buddy bantering and ridiculous plot twists, 2 Guns strenuously goes after the violent and the coy at every turn. Individual scenes work despite all the heavy lifting, but the end result falls short of a satisfying thriller. About two crooked buddies short.
Meet Mark Wahlberg and Denzel Washington. Oh, you’re plenty familiar with them? Here they seem to be experiencing a secret glee at the special camaraderie they enjoy as two wisecracking hoods. When two such pros get together, things are pretty likely to go entertainingly, right? Mark’s a Navy guy, Denzel a DEA agent–both gone rogue soon after they rob a bank together while their identities are still unbeknownst to each other. They’re up against two mean asses in Edward James Olmos and Bill Paxton, as a drug lord and a mysterious villain with an especially noteworthy sadistic streak. With actors like this around what can go wrong? How about a blah of overkill?
Don’t get me wrong. I’ll still see anything Denzel and Wahlberg decide to do. I’ll even put up with a scene, as I did here, that depicts the two of them trying to crash their pickups into each other, then reaching into each other’s windows to grab each other, then finally rolljng around on the ground with thier arms clenched around each other’s throats. It’s even OK they seem like an old married couple much of the time–finishing each other’s sentences and the like. And when Olmos pees on his hands before getting ready to slaughter the both of them, you know he’s serious. But no less pissed off than Paxton, who keeps playing his own unique Russian roulette with his victims, including an undaunted Denzel. Paxton’s trying to figure out what happened to the $43 million Mark and Denzel robbed from the bank where he had a few bucks tucked away. Nobody has any idea where the money ended up, least of all the viewer. But don’t worry. The plot’s just an excuse for scenes like the one where Wahlberg sneaks up on a Navy agent trying to kill him. He goes under the car that agent’s leaning on and sneaks up on him by sliding under his crotch with his gun aimed you know where. Needless to say, the agent gives up. There are plenty of other crotch jokes, like the one where Wahlberg tells Denzel if he wants his car keys, he can find them down–….you get the idea.
Director Balthazar Kormakur follows up his previous Wahlberg film, Contraband, with this adaptation of the BOOM! Graphic novels series. Paradoxically, the movie’s greatest strength–the charisma of its two leads–somehow stifles the otherwise technically proficient proceedings. It’s as if with actors this good, every plot crevice and screenplay silliness is that much further exposed in bold contrast.