Sodas & Popcorn – Movie Review: 2 GUNS

We know we have quite a number of readers who are movie buffs and we thought to introduce a movie review segment for them. We’ve teamed up with the guys at Sodas & Popcorn to achieve that. Please let us know if this is a feature you’d like to see more of and if you have any movies which you’d like to have reviewed please let us know. Also, please let us know if you’ve seen the movie, and if you agree or disagree with the review…with reasons too. This is supposed to be a fun feature for our movie buffs, so let’s have some fun!

Director: Baltasar Kormákur

Writers: Blake Masters (screenplay), Steven Grant (based on the Boom! Studios graphic novels by)

Stars: Denzel Washington, Mark Wahlberg and Paula Patton

2 “Freaking” Guns as I like to call it, affirms something I have continued to say over a long time. “Never ever doubt a movie featuring Denzel Washington”. He is an actor who knows his stuff and can hardly go wrong. Then more importantly, shall we talk about a team up of Washington AND Wahlberg?
Let’s just describe that as a bucket of chicken with a chilled cup of soda and a fresh out of the kitchen hotdog set right before you. Pure awesomeness.
Enough with the drooling and let’s get serious.

The Script
2Guns is a loose adaptation of Grant’s comic book series which tells the story of two crooked undercover officers (unknown to each other) with the DEA (Denzel) and former NCIS agent (Wahlberg) team up as bank robbers. Robert Bobby Trench’s (Denzel) goal is infiltrating a Mexican drug cartel while Michael ‘Stig’ Stigman’s (Wahlberg) goal is to steal from drug dealers so that the money can be used to fund Navy SEAL black-ops missions. Somewhere along the line, both guys are framed up and also end up stealing the wrong man’s money.

Blake Masters who has had a career path which has been centered round Series and seasonal movies has a major break out with the script of 2GUNS. Most familiar for working on projects such as Brotherhood and Law and Order, it is obvious he remained in his niche of crime dramas. I wouldn’t totally call 2 Guns a drama though. This definitely happens to be a spicy mix of a crime thriller with some good old action and comedy.The movie had different fun turns and twists to it that got me eager to see the next stunt Bobby and Stigman would pull off. They got me really entertained I almost forgot the terrible taste of the free popcorn I was served. *tueh!*
It is as hilarious as it is thrilling and a bit predictable. Some scenes turn outs you don’t see coming, but the results in the end were very much expected. Never the less, it is a very enjoyable movie. For adult viewing as it contains unnecessary nudity, strong language and some high level of gore.

The Directing
Baltasar Kormákur best known for directing slightly above average previous works such as Contraband also featuring Mark Wahlberg and A Little Trip to Heaven featuring Forest Whitaker I believe in my opinion, delivers his best work in 2 Guns. Putting together a script with a cast is the main ingredient of a movie. Mix them up wrong and you have a crappy production. But in this case it’s a formula of a good script and a great cast. And ‘Voila!’. There you have it.

Delivering very little CGI and explosions one thing I believe covers up very much for the relatively little action sequences offered is the dialogue

The Acting
Check out the lead cast. I don’t need to sound like a broken record. Mark and Denzel: two out of a thousand of Hollywood talents at their best. The most memorable scene for me was the torture of ‘Bobby Trench by CIA agent Earl played by Bill Paxton. It was as hilarious as it was horrifying. Another thing I admired was the on-screen chemistry Denzel and Wahlberg shared. Having 3 villains each with their distinctive acts was also a big plus; The Mexican kingpin, the American Naval officer and the Southern-accented CIA agent.

The Verdict
For this one I say ‘Make it rain Sodas and Popcorn!’ Spend your cash on a ticket, a bottle of soda and some popcorn. Worth it.

And it’s a wrap folks. Hope you enjoyed the review. If you have seen the movie, let’s know what you think.

The Ratings
Traffic Popcorn-1/5
Popcorn & Water-2/5
Popcorn & Hotdog-3/5
Popcorn & Soda-4/5
Popcorn, Soda & Hotdog-5/5
This review is brought to you by Sodas & Popcorn ……. We watch movies, so you (don’t) have to.

Photo Credit: www.comingsoon.net