Criminals Robert Trench (Denzel Washington) and Michael Stigman (Mark Wahlberg) are questioned by the United States Border Patrol after a meeting with drug lord 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 from Greco, so they can prosecute Greco for money laundering. Trench later meets with his lover, Deb Rees (Paula Patton), who is involved with another man as well, 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 covert operations.
Trench and Stigman are surprised to find $43 million (rather than $3 million) in the vault. After the heist, Stigman follows orders to betray Trench and escape with the money. He suspects Trench is a cop and shoots to wound instead of to kill. Learning of this, 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 bank manager about the money Trench and Stigman stole from him.
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 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. After escaping a hit squad sent by Quince, Trench and Stigman kidnap Greco and interrogate him in the garage at Deb’s house, where they find out Earl, Greco’s associate, is a black ops operative, and they have stolen money from 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 torturing 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.
Washington and Wahlberg are a terrific combination. Although they have different acting styles, it ends up working well.
It is obvious they had fun blowing up buildings, robbing banks, barreling through military security checkpoints and double-crossing people and of course, shooting each other.
Fans of Washington and Wahlberg and those who love action movies will, no doubt, will have fun watching it.
“2 Guns” is based on a graphic novel series of the same name by Steven Grant.