Review: "2 Guns"

Hollywood has certainly gone crazy with the comic book adaptations in recent years, and I'm not just talking superheroes like The Avengers and Man of Steel. Most people don't realize that Road to Perdition with Tom Hanks, RED with Bruce Willis, and AMC's hit television show, The Walking Dead, are adaptations of popular comic book stories, too. This week's I-didn't-know-it-was-a-comic-book release is 2 Guns, based on the Boom! Studios series by Steven Grant.

In the film, Bobby (Denzel Washington) and Stig (Mark Wahlberg) are swindlers working both sides of the Texas/Mexico border to move drugs and money and anything else they can, in order to make some dough. After getting stiffed on a deal for some cocaine by cartel boss Papi Greco (Edward James Olmos), the two decide to rob a bank where Papi keeps $3 million in drug money, but somehow end up with $43 million that doesn't belong to Papi at all. It quickly becomes clear that the two men are not who they're pretending to be, and as the heat comes down from every direction -- with Papi, the CIA, and rogue military officers all wanting the money for themselves -- Bobby and Stig will need to trust each other and stick together in order to survive.

Among the supporting cast are Paula Patton, a DEA agent who is a sometimes lover for Washington's character; James Marsden, a Naval officer; and Bill Paxton, a mystery man who will do anything and kill anyone to get the money. Paxton, in particular, relishes being able to be so bad, and it's easy to forget how versatile an actor he is. But, the movie belongs to Washington and Wahlberg, two of the most consistent leading men in Hollywood today. Denzel can do this stuff in his sleep -- he's been so good for so long that we tend to take it for granted -- but he's smooth, confident, and charismatic as Bobby, the guy who always "knows a guy." Wahlberg, on the other hand, has had a remarkable shift in his public persona, thanks to films like The Other Guys and Ted. Working in comedy has given him the opportunity to showcase the loose, less dour version of himself, and the character of Stig is certainly an extension of his work in those films.

Directed by Baltasar Kormakur, who previously worked with Wahlberg on Contraband, 2 Guns features plenty of action and some R-rated violence that includes Wahlberg shooting the head off a chicken, and Paxton's character interrogating people with an unusual type of Russian roulette. The tone swings from comedic to serious like a pendulum and could potentially be jarring for some viewers. The screenplay was penned by Blake Masters, a veteran of TV shows like Brotherhood and Law & Order: Los Angeles, and features a few too many reveals, twists, and hidden agendas. At the end of the day though, the film features two big stars at their likable best, and the chemistry on display as they banter back and forth for an hour, forty-nine minutes is worth a recommendation.