2 Guns (2013) * *

Directed by:  Baltasar Kormakur

Starring:  Denzel Washington, Mark Wahlberg, Bill Paxton, Edward James Olmos, Paula Patton, Fred Ward, James Marsden

Watching Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg make movies like 2 Guns is like watching a classical pianist play Chopsticks.    We know he can do it, but it's pointless and well beneath his skill level.     It's a tribute to Washington and Wahlberg that they don't mail it in here and try their best to breathe life into 2 Guns, but we're dealing with a tired cop-buddy movie no matter what way it's sliced.

Without giving away too much of the plot, (and there is an abundance of one here) Washington and Wahlberg play two criminals setting up a bank robbery as 2 Guns opens.     Things are Not As They Seem, of course, and again without giving away too much of the plot, the two men find themselves reluctantly teaming together to outwit a Mexican drug lord, the CIA, and the US Navy.     There is a lot of strain on them, but judging by the way they deliver one-liners in the midst of explosions and gunfire, they seem to be having a pretty good time.    

Cop/buddy movies aren't made for their realism, but after 30-some years of such movies, the idea of guys taking time and energy to wisecrack each other under a hail of gunfire is played out.    It has become a tired cliche.   Instead of laughing along with them, we begin to wonder how they can be so calm with all of the fighting going on.    

Because 2 Guns is made practically on autopilot, watching it on autopilot should be expected.     Most of the standards of such movies are present:    The guys walking away from an explosion without any fear of shrapnel, flying parts, or being hit by flames, the guys captured and held in precarious positions (but still find enough time to argue), the killer who has the hero at gunpoint but, instead of pulling the trigger, taunts the hero allowing him to escape, and guys with bullet wounds and injuries that walk away from the scene without any pain or fear of bleeding to death.

Washington and Wahlberg, as well as many of the supporting cast, are capable of doing much better.    They can do this stuff in their sleep, but having seen Washington's powerful performance in Flight and Wahlberg's strong work in The Fighter, isn't it time for these two for forego films like 2 Guns and keep doing more challenging things?     Then again, I'm sure they pay well and you can never have too much financial security.