Movie · 2013 · Action, Comedy, Crime · 1h 49m · R · English
Curator score: 1.8/10 (334.9K ratings)
Never rob a bank across from a diner with the best donuts in three counties.
Overview
A DEA agent and an undercover Naval Intelligence officer who have been tasked with investigating one another find they have been set up by the mob -- the very organization the two men believe they have been stealing money from.
Ratings
Curator score: 1.8/10
IMDb: 6.7/10
Letterboxd: 2.92/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 64%
Metacritic: 55
TMDB: 6.5/10
Director
Baltasar Kormákur
Production
Universal Pictures, Marc Platt Productions, EFO Films, Envision Entertainment, Foresight Unlimited, Oasis Entertainment
Cast
Denzel Washington, Mark Wahlberg, Paula Patton, Edward James Olmos, Bill Paxton, James Marsden, Fred Ward, Robert John Burke, Greg Sproles, Patrick Fischler, Derek Solorsano, Edgar Arreola, Kyle Clements, Christopher Matthew Cook, Tim Bell, Tait Fletcher, Azure Parsons, John McConnell, Jack Landry, Ritchie Montgomery
Where to watch
Starz, Philo
Curator Review
Verdict
A breezy, chemistry-first crime caper that works best as a cable-ready buddy action comedy. Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg keep the banter lively, but the plotting is familiar, the twists are thin, and the style rarely rises above competent.
Best for
Viewers who want charismatic leads and easygoing action-comedy energy
Fans of undercover-cop double-cross stories
People looking for a fun, low-stakes popcorn watch
Skip if
You want a genuinely surprising thriller
You need sleek action direction or standout visual flair
You’re allergic to formulaic buddy-cop plotting
Overview
2 Guns is built on a simple pleasure: watching two movie stars spar, bluff, and improvise their way through a messy criminal setup. The premise has enough friction to keep things moving, and the supporting cast gives the whole thing a scrappy, pulpy feel. It’s the kind of movie that understands the value of momentum and attitude over logic.
Worth noting
What it doesn’t have is much originality. The twists are familiar, the villains are standard issue, and the action is more serviceable than memorable. Still, the lead pairing does a lot of heavy lifting, turning a routine setup into something watchable and occasionally very funny.
Bottom line
If you want a polished genre machine, this comes up short. If you want a decent, fast-moving crime comedy with star power and a few good one-liners, it gets the job done.
Top Letterboxd reviews
Todd Gaines (3★) · 267 likes
Malcolm X and Dirk Diggler as deep-cover agents in way over their fuckin heads. Robbing a bank across from the world's best donut shop. Shooting cock while enjoying some fried chicken. Paula Patton's tits. Hudson without Hicks. Scott minus Jean. A fucked-up version of Russian Roulette. A bull with huge-ass balls. Fred fuckin Ward. A Mexican Albert Einstein. A 64 Impala. Raining money. Payback for shooting your ass. Sorta fun. Kinda cool. A decent buddy-cop flick that is popcorn friendly but light on the originality-excitement-fuck-I-want-more-of-this-shit-it-factor that great action films have.
Rafael "Mister Movie" Jovine (3★) · 170 likes
Starring: King Kong Ain’t Got Sh!t On Denzel
Ok, yes, I have a question. Why every time this movie shows up on cable or they even use a clip on a promo they have this movie playing at 60fps when there’s a pretty good 24fps version out there? To be honest, that’s been one of the major reasons why I avoided this movie.
Now that I've seen it, I can't say that it was a negative experience. There's a lot… more
Michael James (3★) · 160 likes
The hotshot duo in Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg, hook you throughout with their charisma, comedy, banters, actions and entertainingly written dialogues. The story is not your edge of the seat thriller kind with twisty plots, but a pretty decent buddy action comedy. Though the movie doesn’t offer anything special, it is a definite fun watch, especially due to the solid cast and their performance.
Josh Lewis (2★) · 157 likes
Good old-school buddy heist pulp premise, two charismatic leads and a stacked supporting cast playing an appropriately cutthroat depiction of the DEA, CIA, etc. Feels like it should be an easy 3-star cable classic layup but every decision on how to shoot and cut this was the most boring imaginable.
Nick (4★) · 147 likes
Damn this movie was just too much fun. Absolutely nothing special about this. Just your run-of-the-mill, cookie-cutter, what I like to call “bang bang shoot em up” action movies (with what I noticed on this watch was pretty corny writing at times lol).
But when it’s spearheaded by Denzel Washington & Marky Mark Wahlberg and it’s just nearly two hours of them being cool, sign me the f**k up ten times out of ten.
Watched in 2021, Ranked (#104 out of 191)