With Mark Wahlberg and Denzel Washington teaming up for ’2 Guns,’ a lighthearted action movie about a ragtag undercover duo who get themselves into a world of trouble after robbing the wrong bank, we were ready to be entertained. But we had no idea it’d make us laugh so hard!
With superheroes constantly saving the world, and massive manmade machines defeating extraterrestrial ocean monsters one fist-fight at a time, the action movies of 2013 have been getting a little old and overly serious. They all seemed to have forgotten the one reason we paid to see them — to be entertained. Fortunately, 2 Guns has come along to bring back the good ol’ days of the unrelentingly explosive, and surprisingly funny, action movie.
’2 Guns’: An Action Movie You Can Kick Back & Enjoy
2 Guns shows a convoluted world of United States government agencies, crooked officials, and Mexican drug lords, and undercover DEA agent Bobby Trench (Denzel Washington) and undercover NCIS agent Marcus Stigman (Mark Wahlberg) are in the middle of it all. It might seem hard to figure out who’s working for who and who’s double-crossing who in this movie, but don’t worry, it’ll be the only time you’ll have to use your brain (which I think is a good thing).
Bobby and Marcus start off as partners who both don’t realize that the other is undercover. After attempting to set up their drug lord boss (Edward James Olmos) on tax evasion charges by robbing the bank where he hides his money, they find out they pissed off the wrong guys — the CIA — and their true identities are revealed.
Because the CIA and their former agencies are after them for their multi-million dollar heist, Bobby and Marcus are forced to team up yet again — much to our benefit. 2 Guns is absolutely carried by Denzel and Mark’s on-screen chemistry, which is off the charts. Their dialogue is sharp, hilarious, and easy, and I’m pretty sure the audience wouldn’t have minded if 2 Guns turned out to just be a two-hour conversation between these two guys.
’2 Guns’ Brings Back The Funny Action Movie
2 Guns stumbled on a dynamic that hasn’t really been utilized in an action movie since ’80s buddy action-comedy flicks like Midnight Run. The stakes are high — stuff is exploding, people are getting shot, and even more are cursing — but they never feel onerous. When Bobby and Marcus get themselves in a sticky situation, you know they’re going to get out of it, so the fun isn’t in watching if, it’s in watching how. That makes for an easygoing, altogether fun viewing experience.
And it doesn’t hurt that the jokes are hilarious. Between Marky Mark telling Edward James Olmos that he looks like a “Mexican Albert Einstein” (which is very true), and Denzel slapping people around with abandon, 2 Guns might be better classified as a comedy. Here’s how funny it was — it actually got me to laugh at a fart joke. That’s historic stuff right there.
You can probably already guess how 2 Guns ends, but that isn’t the point. The point is you won’t want it to end, because this thing is just too fun to watch.
WATCH: ’2 Guns’ Trailer
– Andrew Gruttadaro
Follow @AndrewGrutt
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