2 Guns

"2 Guns" brings us the unique pairing of two of the bigger stars of the moment, Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg. This summer movie season has brought a plethora of action pics to the cinema and now as we wind down the summer movie season some might be getting a bit tired of the genre. "2 Guns", even with its generic title and at times discombobulated storyline does work on many levels and is an effective entry in the 80's style action yarn that has seen a renaissance as of late thanks in part to Sylvester Stallone and his "Expendables" series.

Like we talked about in this season's earlier entry "The Heat" movies such as this either flip or fly based on the charisma between the two main leads. While "2 Guns" is not a straight comedy as "The Heat" was they are similar in that Washington and Wahlberg play extremely well off of each other like Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy did. The cast overall is superb with everyone seeming to have fun with dialogue that in lesser hands could come off as stale and generic. Wahlberg and Washington play two would be crooks who are actually working undercover unbeknownst to each other, Washington as a DEA agent and Wahlberg as a naval intelligence officer. Both are trying to infiltrate a drug kingpin's cartel. The kingpin is played by Edward James Olmos (Stand and Deliver) in a great turn that is sorely underused. The absolutely breathtaking Paula Patton plays Washington's DEA partner and while in a perfect world I'd be raving about her acting chops, she is really there just as eye candy which is certainly ok by me. The one that really steals the show is the always dependable and "AOM" fave Bill Paxton as a corrupt CIA bigwig. One of "2 Guns" faults is that there are too many villains as James Marsden shows up as a Naval officer with bad intentions as well. Olmos and Paxton alone are worth the price of admission, Paxton has a great scene with Washington involving Russian Roulette and this might be a turning point in his career as he transitions into character actor from leading man a'la Alec Baldwin.

Washington and Wahlberg are on the run from all the bad guys involved after a failed bank robbery which becomes all the more difficult after they both realize they are undercover and not sure if they can trust one another. The movie has a hard time transitioning from comedy to straight action and while Washington knows how to read his character Wahlberg's interpretation of the character goes from fast talking wiseguy to serious where it would just be better if he stayed funny all the time. This can be blamed on the script as it goes from a great first half, to a confusing yet entertaining middle and then goes full Michael Bay for the conclusion, again its a mess but its a very fulfilling/entertaining mess.