2 Guns

Reteaming Contraband director Baltasar Kormakur and Mark Wahlberg, 2 Guns has Wahlberg and Denzel Washington starring as a naval officer and a DEA agent respectively. When their separate undercover attempt to bring down a drug cartel hit a snag, both are forced to square off against the cartel, and their own agencies. The film uses Wahlberg’s comedic chops well to balance the cool factor presented by Washington. Even with the two big leads, I thought this movie was a bit out of place in the summer blockbuster season. But Wahlberg’s character is written in a way that deserves to be seen by as many people as possible.

The story has number of dramatic twists and turns, but since the whole plot is one double cross and lie after another, nothing is that shocking. Well okay, Bill Paxton’s slightly crazy character is surprising. He turns in a great performance. The action concentrates heavily on gun fights with some hand to hand combat mixed in. Most of the action proves compelling, but I can’t help but feel that this movie lacks any kind of innovation or interesting hook that will make it memorable. That seems to be the issue with most of Denzel Washington’s action movies lately. Safe House and Unstoppable are two recent examples.

The film keeps a steady pace splitting its time between witty comedy and violent action. Supporting actors like James Marsden and Paula Patton are under-utilized even though their characters are pretty important. I suppose when a movie has Washington and Wahlberg, they should dominate most of the screen time, which they do. 2 Guns has the look of a modern day western. The fact that the majority of the scenes take place in the desert only reinforces that. Now I wonder what they would call a sequel in the unlikely event that would happen. 3 Guns? That’s just confusing.

Each film earns either zero, a half or a full arrow in five categories. The categories are Acting, Writing/Directing, Emotion, Innovation and Overall Impression. The arrows are added up to equal the full score.