2 Guns

I watched this movie for one reason: Denzel Washington.  He's an actor that owns the screen even when he's not really trying.  Mark Wahlberg is good too (sometimes great) but only occasionally. 

 

2 Guns isn't all that good of a movie.  In fact, much of it is teetering on boring.  It won't put you to sleep, but literally anything can steal your attention during most of the movie.  How did this happen?  Because the story and script are super bland, so the entire movie rests on the actors.

 

Washington and Wahlberg play themselves in 2 Guns.  To be more specific, they play caricatures of themselves.  If you looked at comedian impersonations of these two, they would be indistinguishable from the actual performances in the film.  The fact that Washington and Wahlberg are charismatic screen presences helps, but it's not enough to save this movie.  2 Guns is intensely ho-hum. 

 

2 Guns is based on a graphic novel.  It's about two criminals who plan to rob a New Mexico bank.  After they find way more money than they expected, they also discover that the other is an undercover agent.  Now that they know that they are both "loose cannon" good guys, they team up against the bad guys who want their money back.

 

One of the big problems with 2 Guns is that it wants to deconstruct action movie tropes.  But it also wallows in action movie clichés.  The final result is a movie that never fully commits to being a balls-out, awesome action flick and what action is provided is undermined by the script's self-mockery.  No one bothered to tell the writers that they can't have it both ways.

 

There are some fairly fun action sequences though.  Yet the best thing to watch is Bill Paxton.  He's the main bad guy and he tries so hard to be a cool, scary, iconic villain.  But no one realized in casting that Bill Paxton is not in the least bit intimidating.  It becomes kind of adorable to watch him torture people for information.  It's like watching a high school play wherein teenagers have to play adult characters.  Paxton is trying so hard, but it's never convincing.  It is, however, fun to watch.

 

I would say to wait until this is on cable, but 2 Guns is an R-rated movie that would be empty with its adult content removed.  I don't really recommend 2 Guns, but I don't un-recommend it.  The two leads play off each other extremely well and it has some good action (spoiler: there are more than two guns in the movie).  If you have the cash to rent it and absolutely nothing better to watch, I say go for it.

 

5 out of 10