In "2 Guns," Denzel Washington, left, and Mark Wahlberg play federal agents so undercover neither knows the other's a fed. (Provided by Universal Pictures)
R. 109 minutes. At area theaters.
Based on dark comic-book ace Steven Grant's series, "2 Guns" comes with graphic-novel pedigree. It's R-rated. So it lives up to its title with noisy shootouts ? there's even a Mexican standoff ? mixed with other events that go "boom!" And there are threats of torture and moments of outright deadly dispatch that distinguish it from much of the cartoonish mayhem of "Red 2," with which it shares some DNA.
But 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.
Just when this summer season had us wondering which A-listers can not only open, but sustain, a major release, along comes this pair as good as peanut butter and chocolate.
Or as DEA agent Bobby Trench (Washington) and naval intelligence officer Michael "Stig" Stigman joke, the ebony and ivory keys on a piano.
That there's little harmonious about their alliance for much of the picture is what makes the movie consistently entertaining. Like "The Heat," one of the few bona fide box-office hits of the summer, "2 Guns" builds its buddy flick atop the notion that its buddies really don't trust each other.
As the movie starts, Bobby and Stig seem like a team. They're casing a bank in a dusty Texas border town. The wrinkle here is each man ? unbeknownst to the other ? is a lawman working to entrap his partner.
That's just one twist in a film rife with them. Without plunging into the labyrinth of plot, let's just say the two come to accept that they've been double-crossed by people they put their trust in.
In fact corruption is so rampant ? naval officers, DEA honchos or, most chilling of all, a CIA operative ? that Edward James Olmos' Mexican drug lord Papi Greco seems at least transparent in his mean business. With Bill Paxton's turn as a psychopathic CIA agent, the movie also recalls "No Country for Old Men," without any of the existential insights.
More often director Baltasar Korm?kur and screenwriter Blake Masters spike the action with comedic touches, visual as well as verbal. A garage-door light offers a moment of wonderfully winking wit. And the score has pleasing hints of those breezy, violent movies based on Elmore Leonard crime novels.
But it's Wahlberg's gift for off-the-cuff gab that makes "2 Guns" such a kick.
Which doesn't mean there aren't instances that make you go "huh?" How does a high-profile drug dealer not notice the deeply rumbling Dodge Challenger and its two occupants outside his mistress' home in a McMansion neighborhood? And what did a woman named Maybelle ever do that her diner deserves the ill treatment it gets from Bobby and Stig?
Then there's the bigger problem of Paula Patton, who plays Bobby's DEA contact and sometimes squeeze. Patton's got a knotty mission that she's not entirely able to fulfill. Is she damsel or femme fatale or a bit of both? That quandary isn't the problem. The glitch is the movie doesn't make us invested in the answer.
A friend once said that buddy movies had stepped into the space once occupied by screwball comedy romances, which made a fine habit of pairing two neurotically different personalities with their unexpected complement. He was writing a review of "Lethal Weapon 2" at the time. He was spot on.
When it comes to "2 Guns," he's still right. The result of this screwball shoot-'em-up is funny and action-packed ? yup, weirdly warm and fuzzy for a movie called "2 Guns."
Lisa Kennedy: 303-954-1567, lkennedy@denverpost.com or twitter.com/bylisakennedy
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