2 Guns
Since winning his second Oscar, and first Best Actor Oscar, it seems like Denzel Washington has been cutting loose a bit. Sure, he got a lot of award love for “Flight,” and 2007’s “American Gangster” had him in competition, but a lot of his most memorable roles were in films with no potential for award consideration, and where he was having a bit of fun playing against what we think of when it comes to his performances. Whether you’re talking about thrillers such as “Safe House” and “Inside Man,” or genre pics like “The Book of Eli” and “Deja Vu,” he’s been giving us a glimpses of a wild man ready to be unleashed. (That was also the case with both “Flight” and “Gangster,” for what it’s worth.)
In “2 Guns,” he’s doing a straight-up buddy cop movie, albeit with some edge to it, and it seems appropriate that he was teamed with Mark Wahlberg in the film. After “Pain & Gain” and, to a certain extent, “2 Guns,” I would like to reiterate my point I made last year while reviewing “Ted” when I say that Wahlberg really needs to stop playing action hero and continue fine-tuning his comedic chops, which are better than average. Yes, he’s turned in fine dramatic work in movies such as “The Departed” (for which he was nominated for an Oscar), “The Fighter” and “Three Kings,” but there’s something truly special that comes out of him when he works in comedy. He was the best thing about David O. Russell’s “I Heart Huckabees”; he did great when paired with a foul-mouthed teddy bear in last year’s “Ted”; in action comedies such as “The Big Hit” and “Pain & Gain,” he was capable of out-of-control humor and outrageous action; in “Date Night,” he was memorable as the perpetually shirtless acquaintance of Tina Fey; and he made a can’t-miss partner to Will Ferrell in “The Other Guys.” Meanwhile, his action offerings, from “Contraband” to “Max Payne” to “Shooter,” are kind of flat, and don’t utilize his funny side nearly enough; only 2003’s sleeper hit, “The Italian Job,” did that.
Thankfully, “2 Guns” is a little closer to that last one in tone, as Wahlberg’s Naval Special Forces officer and Washington’s DEA agent find themselves set up, and in the middle of a bigger-than-they-know sting trying to catch a notorious drug cartel. But there are a lot of people interested in their own endgames, from Edward James Olmos’s ruthless dealer to James Marsden’s Special Forces officer to Bill Paxton’s shady CIA agent to Paula Patton’s DEA agent, and Washington’s former lover. The movie, directed by Wahlberg’s “Contraband” helmer, Baltasar Kormakur, isn’t quite on the level of classic buddy movies like the “Lethal Weapon” series, though it sure as Hell aims for such aspiration, but it has a lot of rough edges, and enough comedic energy, for Wahlberg and Washington to play with. They bounce off one another well, and the film benefits from their presence. This is just a bloody good (and just plain bloody) time at the movies. Don’t go in expecting more, and I have a hard time thinking you’ll be disappointed.
