This is surprisingly a great low lighted action comedy that works in many more ways than "Contraband". It's a fun popcorn flick, plus it's fun to watch Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg on screen together. Overall, a fun movie to watch on a Saturday night.
Washington plays Bobby Trench, a cool customer plotting a small town bank robbery with caffeinated Michael "Stig" Stigman (Wahlberg). What neither knows is that the other is working undercover: Bobby for the DEA and Stig for U.S. Navy Intelligence. They're both on the trail of drug kingpin Papi Greco (Edward James Olmos) and the bank reportedly houses $3 million in drug money.
What confuses Bobby, Stig and the audience for a while is why their robbery nets more than $43 million. It turns out that the CIA is somehow involved, with a sweaty, sadistic agent named Earl, played by Bill Paxton, leading the pack. The Navy, represented by so-helpful-he-can't-be- trusted Quince, played by James Marsden, also wants the cash. Papi isn't happy, either. A lot of shoehorning and short cuts are required to fit all this skullduggery into one movie but it mostly works.
It's best to forget the plot and simply enjoy this bumpy, bullet-ridden ride. Washington and Wahlberg make such a wonderful team — a modern Butch and Sundance in patter and aim — that you wonder why Hollywood never thought of this pairing before. Each character has an identifying quirk: for Bobby, a collection of straw fedoras; for Stig, a punctuating wink. Mostly the actors are just having fun and it's contagious.
2 Guns is a movie based on smart callbacks and sly flip-flops of loyalty, regularly interrupted by spasms of well-staged violence. The perplexing nature of Masters' plot takes effort to sort through but sets up a terrific finale, literally a Mexican standoff between everyone wanting the money, with Bobby and Stig back-to-back in the middle, spraying gunfire in all directions. It's a dynamic sequence that, like the rest of 2 Guns, proves overkill can be amusing.
Washington plays Bobby Trench, a cool customer plotting a small town bank robbery with caffeinated Michael "Stig" Stigman (Wahlberg). What neither knows is that the other is working undercover: Bobby for the DEA and Stig for U.S. Navy Intelligence. They're both on the trail of drug kingpin Papi Greco (Edward James Olmos) and the bank reportedly houses $3 million in drug money.
What confuses Bobby, Stig and the audience for a while is why their robbery nets more than $43 million. It turns out that the CIA is somehow involved, with a sweaty, sadistic agent named Earl, played by Bill Paxton, leading the pack. The Navy, represented by so-helpful-he-can't-be- trusted Quince, played by James Marsden, also wants the cash. Papi isn't happy, either. A lot of shoehorning and short cuts are required to fit all this skullduggery into one movie but it mostly works.
It's best to forget the plot and simply enjoy this bumpy, bullet-ridden ride. Washington and Wahlberg make such a wonderful team — a modern Butch and Sundance in patter and aim — that you wonder why Hollywood never thought of this pairing before. Each character has an identifying quirk: for Bobby, a collection of straw fedoras; for Stig, a punctuating wink. Mostly the actors are just having fun and it's contagious.
2 Guns is a movie based on smart callbacks and sly flip-flops of loyalty, regularly interrupted by spasms of well-staged violence. The perplexing nature of Masters' plot takes effort to sort through but sets up a terrific finale, literally a Mexican standoff between everyone wanting the money, with Bobby and Stig back-to-back in the middle, spraying gunfire in all directions. It's a dynamic sequence that, like the rest of 2 Guns, proves overkill can be amusing.