You ever heard the saying, “Don’t rob the bank across from the diner that has the best donuts in three counties”?
2 Guns
(2013)
(SPOILERS) Denzel Washington is such a reliable performer, that
it can get a bit boring. You end up knowing every gesture or inflection in
advance, whether he’s playing a good guy or a bad guy. And his films are
generally at least half decent, so you end up seeing them. Even in Flight (or perhaps especially in Flight;
just watch him chugging down that vodka) where he’s giving it his
Oscar-nominatable best, he seems too familiar. I think it may be because he’s
an actor who is more effective the less
he does. In 2 Guns he’s not doing
less, but sometimes it seems like it. That’s because the last person I’d ever
expect blows him off the screen; Mark Wahlberg.
It doesn’t compute, really. Wahlberg can be pretty
forgettable if he’s cast against his strengths; put him in a Max Payne or We Own the Night (or The
Italian Job or Shooter or Contraband – even though those are
mildly agreeable diversions) and he barely leaves an impression. He fares even
less well without the support of an action template; look at The Lovely Bones or The Happening. But ask him to play dumb, or stick him in a comedy,
or just make him goofy, and he comes alive. He’s great in The Departed, a hoot in The
Other Guys and is by far the best thing about Ted. But I didn’t expect him
to knock it out of the park here. He’s reteaming with his Contraband director Baltasar Kormákur, not obviously a recipe for
chuckles. And Denzel tends to make short work of his younger co-stars (see also
Unstoppable and Safe House).
But it’s Washington who’s left looking a bit tired; we’ve
seen him do this too many times lately. The smartest guy, hip to the game,
acting all tough but you know that he’s a nice family guy underneath (I even
had this problem slightly with Training
Day); for all his bag of tricks he doesn’t really disappear into his roles. The result is that Wahlberg seems
more natural. He’s playing an excited
kid, eager to be pals with Denzel. While they both get good dialogue, it’s
Marky Mark’s that really takes off; a succession of dumb-smart quips and unmannered
innocence. Nevertheless, the pair has strong chemistry; even though the camaraderie
is trying to a bit too hard in places.
The twosome are play a couple of undercover guys, neither of whom
realised the other was undercover. Wahlberg’s Stig is working for Naval
Intelligence, Washington’s Bobby for DEA. Ostensibly to bring down drug baron
Papi Greco. They rob a Mexican bank, only to end up with (a lot) more loot than
they were counting on. And then they find themselves double-crossed. And then
they find out each other’s identity. And then Wahlberg shoots Washington.
This is Blake Masters’ first produced movie script, based on
Steve Grant’s graphic novel, and it’s clearly indebted to the profane,
ultra-violent, densely plotted work of Shane Black (so much so that there’s
even a somewhat suspect depiction of female characters – or in this case
character). As mentioned, Masters is at times straining for the quick-fire
buddy banter. To that extent, it’s not a complete success; there’s a nagging
feeling that this is derivative of something better, content with an obvious line when he knows he could do better. Kormàkur’s
direction is perfectly serviceable when it comes to the action, but he isn’t a
particularly witty director (on this evidence). But it hits more than it
misses, and the laughs that come thick and fast are entirely down to the
performers (well, and the script). During the early stages, the movie struggles
to hit a groove; the lines are there, the actors are heating their beats, but the
director isn’t quite enabling it all.
That may be because there’s a slight floundering generally
until the duo’s identities are exposed. They’re playing parts, but you don’t
know how much, and Kormàkur (maybe it was there from the start, but it feels like an
adjustment for little dramatic reason) throws in a flashback in the opening five
minutes that pays off after 20; it’s never clear why it was necessary, other
than to mix things up a bit.
Nevertheless, as a storyline this is both consistently
ridiculous and intriguing; it holds the attention with its disparate strands until
the finale. And, when the climax arrives, the results don’t disappoint. There’s
a conspiracy involved, and it’s always a pleasure to see the US government
agencies, or the military, or both, depicted as fundamentally crooked (because,
like, they are; right?) There’s a sop
presented, as an attempt to balance it out for the average Joe (“You fight for the guy that’s fighting next
to you”) who serves his country, but it’s pat and contrived. As if, amidst
all this cynicism, someone thought they’d better throw in something
aspirational.
This is, after all, a movie where one of the heroes suggests
waterboarding as his next move in an interrogation and we’re presumably
supposed to think it’s a good thing (actually, I’m not sure we are; the script
is so self-consciously smart aleck that any apparent position may just be contrary
for the sake of it). Maybe Wahlberg felt a little guilty about it all (he is a committed Christian, after all);
his next picture is a slice of gung ho jingoism from starch patriot and all
round War on Terror proponent Peter Berg. We can only hope it’s fractionally as
good as Battleshit. Denzel,
meanwhile, has remade The Equalizer.
One wonders if it will play up the vigilantism or turn out more like a one-man A-Team. Certainly, the actor has been
enjoying a spate of low calorie anti-hero roles in the last couple of years;
they’ve been consistently well made, but none of them have attained greatness. 2 Guns
might be the best of this run, but it’s a movie you know you’ve seen before.
The picture has an expectedly flippant attitude to receiving and
inflicting violence; everything is exaggerated and OTT - this is the other aspect
that most reminds me of Shane Black’s work. When our heroes are imperilled,
they are more likely to insult their abusers than kowtow to them. Kormàkur’s eye for action is a keen one; he
keeps the pace up and renders his spatial geometry coherent (always something
to be celebrated in an age where shaking a camera is the go-to technique for
any action sequence). The sharpshooting scene at Stig’s apartment is
particularly effective, but the director’s work as a whole is confident enough
that there’s little to single out. But I must mention that, as a keen observer
of chicken carnage, this movie reaches a nadir of wanton devastation. The CGI
chicken wrangler must have had his work cut out for him.
The guest cast are mostly very good, although Paula Patton’s
poker face is abysmal, and Kormàkur singularly fails to limit the tells
in this regard. It’s a consistent problem in murder mysteries where the cast of
characters is very limited, that you are reduced to one or two suspects so the
reveal isn’t really surprising (Sea of
Love, anyone?) So too with double-cross plots. Edward James Olmos Paxton is having a ball as
the cartel boss, one with a penchant for urinating over his own hands. Fred
Ward makes a welcome appearance (it’s not as if he’s stopped working, but his
profile has been disappointingly low of late).
James Marsden is the weak link
as Wahlberg’s superior; you need someone of equal presence to his co-stars, but
Marsden only succeeds in getting worked up into a frightfully bad mood. He behaves
more like a temperamental teenager than a naval officer. Pick of the supporting
players is Bill Paxton, oozing malevolence and gifted with lines almost as
funny as Wahlberg’s. It’s a treat to watch him, and he’s another actor who
hasn’t been seen nearly enough on the big screen lately.
In a summer where spectacle has dictated content to
repeatedly disappointing pay-offs, 2 Guns bucks the trend. It may be a little
too reminiscent of the action movies of yesteryear, but it is also funny, well-staged
and moves at a sufficient clip for you not to catch up with where its
headed. Boring title, though.
***1/2