Following in the footsteps of countless buddy movies, “2 Guns” features a lot of well known faces and a set up with great potential. Potential that is ultimately squandered because the script sticks to the most obvious conventions of the genre.
DEA agent Trench (Denzel Washington) and Naval Intelligence officer Stigman (Mark Wahlberg) are deep undercover within the organization of Mexican drug kingpin Greco (Edward James Olmos). When Trench and Stigman decide to rob a US bank that Greco uses, they both secretly hope that the ensuing investigation will incriminate the villain by revealing his banking habits. However, after their heist scores about 40 million dollars more than expected, the leads suddenly discover each other’s true identities and learn that they have been set up by their employers. Now, the pair is being hunted by not only Greco, but sinister US agents (including Bill Paxton and James Marsden).
On the surface, it may seem like a simple plot, and it is. Yet somehow the script finds itself to be both needlessly complicated and tonally scattershot. Like all buddy movies, the main story involves Trench and Stigman bickering and working out their differences while maneuverings out of their predicament and enacting revenge on their tormentors. While there is some good interplay, the wisecracks also come during some very violent moments and as a result feel mean spirited.
Additionally, the villains are too numerous. They’re all played by solid actors, but because there are so many the movie finds little time to fully develop them. Instead, each is introduced and only given a couple of scenes to make an impression. As one becomes an interesting foil, he is thrown by the wayside and forgotten for large chunks of the running time. There’s also a tonally out of place romantic subplot between Trench and another DEA agent (Paula Patton), one who may have ties to the villains. Sadly, the lone female character is given little to do, and her relationship with Trench is played with a straight-faced seriousness that finds itself at odds with most of the rest of the picture.
It’s unfortunate that the story abandons its interesting set-up. The concept of two agents separately working undercover could have led to a lot of unique tension and hilarity, with one trying to sacrifice or set up the other to avoid being detected and sabotaging each other’s identical goals. However, the film abandons this potential by the end of the first act to follow a more rote buddy movie formula.
Overall, the excellent performers do make up for some of the story’s shortcomings and predictability. The bizarrely odd mix of brutal beatings with weird, inappropriate jokes and serious, dramatic scenes result in a flick not particularly engaging or exciting. It would likely make for a decent disc rental, but audiences who pay big money to see it in the theater may find the characters shooting blanks.