2 Guns (2013)

Whoa never knew this was adapted from a graphic novel, whether that work is any good I don't know (obviously) so I can't compare here. The main carrot on the stick here is...I don't know if there is one, so I guess its the team up of Washington and Wahlberg. Yep its another buddy action flick but this time one guy is undercover DEA and the other is an undercover Naval Intelligence Officer.

So that's the main surprise up front, you'd half expect this to be a straight up crime thriller with two lowdown criminals double crossing each other amidst much dark humour. Either that or you'd expect this to be a straight up buddy cop action thriller with lots of rebellious anti rule book attitude...but you'd be wrong. Two undercover uniforms trying to knab the same bad guy by stealing money from him so they can do him for money laundering. Thing is the cash belongs to the CIA and they want it back by any means necessary. And at the same time the Navy wants the cash for its own purposes, or some dirty officers do anyway.

Yes its yet another double crossing twist filled plot with lots of characters and various sub plots which leaves you wondering who's gonna get shot by their so called partner next. What I did like about this film is the fact that its uniforms fighting against each other, Navy, CIA and DEA, with some standard issue drug dealers in for good measure. That's the only original idea on the plate, the rest is just a mess of your average factory line greed induced back stabbing which has been done to death now.

The main duo played by Washington and Wahlberg are a good combination no doubt, they work well together and play off each other surprisingly well despite their clash in styles. It does feel a bit off track at times with Wahlberg coming across like the type of character you'd expect to see in a film like this, a kind of '48 Hours' actioner. Where as Washington does at times feel a tad out of place, he's a good strong actor and almost feels too rigid for the role, too epic if you will, for such a quickfire thriller.

Twenty minutes in and I was bored, sorry but I was. Nothing really happens in the film other than a lot of snappy dialog which tries to be smarter than it really is. The films poster shows the highlight of the movie probably because there isn't anything else to brag about. Olmos does make a good Mexican drug dealer in that stereotypical type of way, the dude looks so damn cheesy its almost funny. Where as Paxton is trying way way too hard to be a memorable bad guy and failing embarrassingly. He isn't in the least bit threatening or intimidating much like everyone else in the film, its just all wind and no fart.

A disappointing film which I can't really call an action film as it has none, and I can't really call a thriller as...you guessed it, it has no thrills. The only thing it can offer is the odd scene with the main duo verbally kicking ass, mainly Wahlberg as he's the smart ass, apart from that its got nothing. Even the big finale shootout can't save this I'm afraid, seen it all before, move along.

4/10