2 Guns (movie review) 3 / 4 stars (go see it) 2 Guns has the chemistry of a buddy cop movie with the premise of Mr. and Mrs. Smith but without the whole marital thing and instead replaced by two men with secret lives and ulterior motives instead. I had this film pegged as a run of the mill action shoot ‘em’ up with two big stars carrying the routine. However, I am happy to say that 2 Guns is a very entertaining action-comedy that has more of an original plot than the trailers indicate along with its two leads delivering solid performances; with Wahlberg being his funniest ever on-screen. That is considering my individual opinion that he is usually hit and miss in his effort at it. Denzel and Mark play two partners in Bobby and Stig who are in deep in drug dealing involving big money with a Mexican drug lord in Papi (Edward James Olmos). When one of the key conduits for the two men’s agenda to retain a heavy load of cocaine goes fatal, we are learned that Bobby is in fact secretly undercover working for the DEA and his assumed buddy and patsy in Stig, is simultaneously working undercover but for the Navy Intel. As the two find out of each other’s false identities, they also have to deal with a stone cold killer of a CIA agent (Bill Paxton) and his men who are hot on their tail with a hidden agenda of their own. From the trailers for this film, it seemed much less complex and interesting than what the story unfolds as on screen. Based on Stephen Grant’s Boom! graphic novels, 2 Guns feels like a Cormac McCarthy novel brought to the screen but with Michael Bay in the director’s chair instead of the Coen brothers. By the way, Contraband director Baltasar Kormakur directs here. McCarthy’s stories were about the crossfire between multiple chasers of the same money. Just think of Fargo and No Country for Old Men. This film is very similar to those two but done with less dramatization and more pizzazz and fun. In this plot, we have not just a similar Man With No Name arc in The Good, The Bad and the Ugly, but the way in which the enemies are solved is similar to that of Will Smith’s trick in Enemy of the State. But 2 Guns is also informing us who has the true power when it comes to organizations in National Security. Bill Paxton’s CIA man who is willing to play a revised version of Russian Roulette with his gun to someone’s body parts has the relentless menace of Javier Bardem’s Chigurh. This may be Paxton’s most formidable performance as he gives off an intimidating almost terrifying vibe of violence to his performance. Denzel Washington is again stellar as he is in everything he does. He looks older and having the younger and very attractive Paula Patton as his former and lingering on love interest cues to the audience that yes, she does have Daddy issues being with an old man. But it is Mark Wahlberg who is a firecracker of jokes and insults along with some very humorous eye winks that give the movie most of its laughs and make Wahlberg his funniest to date. As Stig, he is the Riggs to Murtaugh and Mark’s rapid fire delivery of the dialogue is sharp just as the action sequences he performs are as well. 2 Guns isn’t anything special, but it is surely entertaining enough to be worthy of being seen in the theaters. It is funny, action-packed and smartly written. It has a cast of bonafide movie stars, veterans and up and comers. It embodies what a solid summer movie should be; that is unrealistic but well made and escapist but fun, true and with enough heart.
Posted on: Sun, 04 Aug 2013 18:19:37 +0000
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