Review of 2 Guns (2013) by Iphort P — 18 Jul 2014

(Late to the dance, I watched it on Blu ray.) Actually, I went into this film with an open mind and no expectations. As a duo Wahlberg and Washington worked well in certain scenes but due to the bland script this effort was very uneventful. The general tone was this even keel of "cool chaos" that eventually became mundane and annoying since this movie was portrayed as an action suspense thriller. It had the overall feeling of a "made for TV movie" with heavy weight actors but the script lacked a bang (pun intended). Scene by scene it seemed to unsurprisingly drag on at a lazy attempt to be fascinating. After a while (especially during Wahlberg's individual scenes) it felt like comedic filler that lost its punch early on in the first act. The art of misdirection was juvenile and cheesy even pathetic in some beats. I found myself trying to concentrate since the plot was too predictable. I become quickly exhausted with the ole "heroes are in danger but just in the nick of time they escape" cliché.

Paula Patton was eye candy causality and Denzel's character dismissed her demise within 5 minutes. Edward James Olmos was the one of the many antagonists and his character just frizzled on screen to the point of being useless. Overall, this film suffered from an identity crisis-too many villains not enough protagonists. The final act was a horribly contrived Mexican standoff with sloppy camera direction, tongue and cheek one liners and once again the good guys survive from bullets flying in every direction.

I wanted to be entertained by world class actors but 2 Guns fell flat and the writers needed to give this screenplay a stiff shot in the arm and a swift kick in the pants. The on-screen chemistry between Denzel and Mark contained the makings of a classic but the banter was short lived and lacked substance. Overall, 2 Guns felt hollow, confused, weak and it seemed like I was watching dailies rather than a solid flick in the can. If anything this effort felt like a "throw away film" that the studio figured it'll be a quick cash grab (low cost $60 million to produce and $131 million in high return) rather than a possible blockbuster. Even with $60 million for production and probably another $20 to $40 million for marketing/promotion, this movie eloquently failed at flaunting its worth on screen. Similar to Mark Wahlberg's character getting shot in the leg, this film painfully limped for 109 minutes. The two stars are for being able see Paula Patton. Pass on it.