Review: 2 Guns

Review: 2 Guns

Director: Baltasar Kormakur
Cast: Denzel Washington, Mark Wahlberg, Paula Patton
Running Time: 109 Minutes

Blimey. Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg certainly know how to have a good time, don't they?

Sure it's not the most heavy handed blockbuster of the summer and it will probably slip under the radar for the general cinema audience, but 2 Guns is probably the most carefree and fun movie to hit our screens for a very long time. It's instantly forgettable and its plot chugs along at standard action-movie pace, but honestly it's impossible not to enjoy watching Washington and Wahlberg's latest.

In fact, they themselves are the most appealing aspects of this thriller - the story is good enough, although there's nothing particularly shocking hidden in its twists - as the two fr-enemies become fairly solid echoes of other buddy-cop heroes. Think Die Hard With A Vengeance updated for the modern age; Wahlberg is Willis and Washington is Jackson. 

Rightfully so: both of them have built huge careers for themselves, having either been nominated for an Oscar or appearing in Oscar winning movies. But it's Wahlberg who seems to have risen the most, his "generic action man" status now just a shadow of his past - seemingly thanks to his leading stint in Ted and an upcoming role in Michael Bay's Pain And Gain, his comic timing is just as formidable as his explosive stunt work.

And stunts there are, with each bombastic gun fight and helicopter shoot-out more exciting than the last, but it's the bickering banter between the two leads that makes 2 Guns both hilarious and entertaining.

When we meet our two heroes, things are just about to kick off as they quietly order food in a diner. The level of real, believable conversation is such that you wouldn't be blamed for mistaking 2 Guns for a new Tarantino classic; we find that the pair are both crooked undercover officers - one from the DEA and the other from the navy - unwittingly leading investigations on each other. Having robbed a bank of over $43Million, the two turn on each other, but they soon discover that the CIA, the navy, the DEA and a Mexican drug lord are all after the money too. 

Cue an occasionally messy plot that feels like a much more action packed, American version of Guy Ritchie's Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, with several side characters all shooting for the same objective. At the end of the day, it's all nonsense but there's something so irresistibly fun about the whole thing that keeps us roped in to their plight. 

That's not to say there aren't darker moments here and there; Washington's character in particular gets the brunt of the heavier scenes, while Wahlberg continues to add the levity in even the most perilous situations. It's an unlikely pairing of actors, but for a quick-fire flick like 2 Guns, it works despite some pantomime side acting and a climax that's more or less over as soon as it's started.

Summary

Come for the actors, stay for the action. Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg elevate what would have been a bog-standard shoot-em-up to a hilariously action packed buddy-cop movie which would have fared marvellously in the Lethal Weapon era of film-making. Don't feel bad if you completely zone out during the finer moments of the plot - at the end of the day, the central pair of actors are the reason this film is hitting cinemas at all and despite the narrative pitfalls, it's their dynamic which keeps 2 Guns shooting along entertainingly. 

7/10 - Good

See it if you liked: Pulp Fiction (1994), Die Hard With A Vengeance (1995), Broken City (2013)