2 Guns

2 Guns
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Baltasar Kormákur
Produced by	Marc Platt[1] Randall Emmett[1] Norton Herrick[1] Adam Siegel[1] George Furla[1] Ross Richie[1] Andrew Cosby[1]
Screenplay by	Blake Masters
Based on	2 Guns by Steven Grant Mateus Santolouco
Starring	Denzel Washington Mark Wahlberg
Music by	Clinton Shorter
Cinematography	Oliver Wood
Edited by	Michael Tronick
Production company	Marc Platt Productions[1] Oasis Ventures Entertainment[1] Envision Entertainment[1] Herrick Entertainment[1] Boom! Studios[1]
Distributed by	Universal Pictures[1]
Release dates	August 2, 2013 (2013-08-02)
Running time	109 minutes[2]
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$61 million[3]
Box office	$131.9 million[3]

2 Guns is a 2013 American action comedy film directed by Icelandic film director Baltasar Kormákur in his American directorial debut. The film stars Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg.^[4] Based on the comic book series of the same name created by Steven Grant and Mateus Santolouco, published in 2007 by Boom! Studios. The film was released in the United States on August 2, 2013,^[5] and was met with mixed to positive reviews from critics. This was Denzel Washington's first American comedy film since 1996 Christmas comedy film The Preacher's Wife.

Plot

Criminals Robert Trench (Denzel Washington) and Michael Stigman (Mark Wahlberg) are questioned by the United States Border Patrol after a meeting with drug lord Manny "Papi" Greco (Edward James Olmos) in Mexico. Unknown to Stigman, Trench is an undercover DEA agent and reports to his superior, Jessup (Robert John Burke), that he failed to acquire cocaine from Greco that they could use as evidence to convict him.

Against Jessup's orders, Trench decides to remain undercover and assist Stigman in robbing $3 million - stashed in the vault of the Tres Cruces bank - from Greco, so they can prosecute Greco for money laundering. Trench has a rendezvous with fellow DEA agent and former lover, Deb Rees (Paula Patton), who is also seeing another man, while Stigman, an undercover Intelligence Specialist with the Navy SEALs, meets with his commanding officer, Harold Quince (James Marsden), who instructs Stigman to kill Trench so the Navy can use the stolen money to fund unauthorized covert operations.

During the heist, Trench and Stigman are surprised to find $43.125 million in the vault instead of the expected $3M. After the heist, Stigman follows orders to betray Trench and escape with the money, managing to pull his gun right as Trench is about to pull his own. Unwilling to kill Trench, Stigman wounds Trench in the shoulder, and then sees Trench's DEA badge. Not sure what to think of Trench, he leaves Trench behind in the desert and leaves with the money. Stigman meets with Quince, and after learning what happened, Quince attempts to have Stigman killed. Stigman escapes after learning the money will be transferred to a Navy base in Corpus Christi. Meanwhile, a man named Earl (Bill Paxton) aggressively interrogates the Tres Cruces bank manager about the stolen money and also questions the vet who treated Trench's wounds as he tracks Trench's movements.

However, Trench goes to Stigman's apartment to find out where he took the money, only to have Stigman contact him from a sniper's post across the street. A hit squad sent by Quince attacks the apartment but Trench and Stigman escape. Trench visits Jessup to tell him what happened, but Earl and his men are there waiting for him. Earl kills Jessup, frames Trench for the murder and lets him go, making a deal that if Trench returns the $43 million he will be cleared. Trench and Stigman kidnap Greco and interrogate him in the garage at Deb's house. They find out Earl is a black ops operative to whom Greco reports, and that the money they stole belonged to the CIA.

The garage is attacked by another hit squad, led by Quince, and the trio ends up being captured by Greco and taken to his farm in Mexico. After beating them and receiving a visit from Earl, Greco gives the pair 24 hours to steal the money from the Navy and return it to him, or Deb will die.

At the base, Trench infiltrates Quince's office, only to discover Quince is Deb's boyfriend, and they had planned to steal the money for themselves. Meanwhile, Stigman asks Admiral Tuway (Fred Ward) for help. Tuway orders Quince's arrest, but disavows Stigman to prevent the scandal from tarnishing the Navy's reputation. Quince evades arrest, as does Stigman. Unable to find the money, Trench is too late to prevent Greco from killing Deb. He later realizes that the money is in a motel room that he and Deb frequented and goes to help Stigman, who had returned to Greco's farm alone to exact vengeance.

There, Stigman is surrounded by Greco's men until both Quince and Earl intervene. Trench arrives in a car filled with money, and then blows up the car, scattering the money everywhere, which leads to a massive shootout. During a standoff among Quince, Earl, Trench, and Stigman, Earl reveals that the CIA has 20 other secret banks, and the loss of the $43.125 million is only a minor setback. Signaling Stigman with a phrase from an earlier conversation, Stigman shoots Earl, and Trench shoots Quince. Trench and Stigman kill Greco and the duo escapes, but not before Trench shoots Stigman in the leg as payback for shooting him in the desert. While planning to continue to take down the CIA's secret banks and sabotage their black operations, Trench reveals to Stigman that he did not blow up all the money and had some stashed away.

Cast

• Denzel Washington as DEA Special Agent Robert "Bobby" Trench
• Mark Wahlberg as USN Petty Officer Michael "Stig" Stigman
• Paula Patton as DEA Special Agent Deb Rees
• Bill Paxton as Earl
• James Marsden as USN Lieutenant Commander Harold Quince
• Fred Ward as USN Rear Admiral Tuwey
• Edward James Olmos as Manny "Papi" Greco
• Robert John Burke as DEA Special Agent Jessup

Production

The film is an adaption of the comic series of the same name by Steven Grant.^[6] However, it has been noted by the Observer that it can also be seen as evocative of the 1973 thriller Charley Varrick.^[7] The pictures have similar plots and in both cases the bank being robbed is in Tres Cruces, New Mexico.

Filming took place in New Orleans, Louisiana and areas throughout New Mexico.^[8] While filming in Louisiana, the production spent $57.5 million in the state and received a $17.6 million subsidy under the state's film incentive program.^[9] 2 Guns marked the second collaboration for Wahlberg and Kormákur: they first worked together on the film Contraband. It also marks the second collaboration between Washington and Patton after having starred together in Déjà Vu.

Reception

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 64% based on 164 reviews. The site's consensus reads, "Formulaic and often jarringly violent, 2 Guns rests its old-school appeal on the interplay between its charismatic, well-matched stars."^[10] Metacritic gave a score of 55 out of 100 based on 43 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".^[11]

Ben Kenigsberg of The A.V. Club gave the film a C+ rating, describing it as "the no-frills action, half-pint Jim Thompson scenario, and buddy-cop wisecracks".^[12] Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian gave the film 2 out of 5 stars.^[13] R. Kurt Osenlund of Slant Magazine gave the film 2 out of 4 stars. "It's noticeably odd that 2 Guns has the desire to make offhanded socio-political statements, but not the will to take them anywhere truly provocative," he wrote.^[14] Peter Travers of Rolling Stone also gave the film 2 out of 4 stars, commenting that the film didn't make the extra effort.^[15] Lisa Kennedy of Denver Post gave the film 3 out of 4 stars, writing that "the biggest guns this action flick brandishes are stars Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg who have very different acting styles that work surprisingly well together".^[16]

Box office

The film grossed $75,612,460 in North America and $56,327,951 in other countries, with a $131,940,411 worldwide gross against a budget of $61 million, having debuted at the top of the box office with $27,059,130 in its first weekend.^[3]

See also

• Denzel Washington filmography

References

External links

• Official website
• 2 Guns at the Internet Movie Database
• 2 Guns at Rotten Tomatoes
• 2 Guns at the Internet Movie Firearms Database