2 Guns (2013)

Just one look at the poster was enough reason for me to go watch this movie: 2 Guns. Denzel Washington. Mark Wahlberg. With a title like that and those actors I was expecting to have a great time with an entertaining action movie. The movie started out interesting: Two men who head into a sleepy town to prepare a bank robbery. Without knowing anything about the movie I was looking forward to a great 109 minutes. Unfortunately I should have prepared for utter disappointment.

It doesn’t take long before the two men, Robert Trench (Denzel Washington) and Michael Stigman (Mark Wahlberg) find out that the other isn’t who he says he is and the two end up fighting each other. At the same time both of them are caught in a web of government agencies and a drug cartel who all want information from them. As the movie progresses that web slowly starts to stick to the viewer as well as it becomes more illogical and confusing, trapping you interest. The result was that I didn’t care anymore for what was happening. The movie also is out of balance. There are moments which belong in comedies, but then there are also very serious moments which don’t necessarily fit with each other. Because of this some funny moments are lost and because of that uneven feeling I got the feeling I was not watching characters, but just actors who were saying their lines.

2 Guns had the potential to be a fun “buddy cop” movie, but I didn’t feel enough chemistry between Wahlberg and Washington to keep me interested. The movie felt too long and when the only positive thing about this movie I can think of is the topless scene with Paula Patton it is hard to suggest watching this. A title like 2 Guns promises a lot, but it turned out quite boring. I left the cinema deeply disappointed.