Movie Review - 2 Guns

2 Guns **½ (R) In the latest cop/crime-buddy action comedy flick, we open with Mark Wahlberg and Denzel Washington casing the S & L in a dusty border town. Their plan is to swipe about $3 mil from a Mexican drug lord (Edward James Olmos) who stiffed them on their last buy. What they get is about 15 times more in dubious dollars that must belong to someone even bigger and more dangerous than their intended target.

We soon start learning that no one is who they seem, as a swirl of reveals, switches and double-crosses follow in rapid succession. The two stars trade on the sort of macho joshing and friction amid the flying bullets that generally sustain the likes of Tango & Cash or the Lethal Weapon series. This one is a solid, if unexceptional, entry in the genre with the right amount of mayhem, and a little bit of skin.

Director Baltasar Kormakur, who teamed with Wahlberg for a serious drug-action film (Contraband), serves both the comedic and adrenaline sides of this outing with a brisk pace for the action and the banter between his stars. That also minimizes any frustrations about the script’s excesses of complexity, and the amount of disbelief it asks us to suspend. If you want nothing more than summer escapist fare, 2 Guns is on target. (8/2/13)