Today’s Prayer Focus
MOVIE REVIEW

2 Guns

also known as “Two Guns”
MPA Rating: R-Rating (MPA) for violence throughout, language and brief nudity.

Reviewed by: Raphael Vera
CONTRIBUTOR

Moral Rating: Very Offensive
Moviemaking Quality:
Primary Audience: Adults
Genre: Action Crime Thriller Comedy Drama Adaptation
Length: 1 hr. 49 min.
Year of Release: 2013
USA Release: August 2, 2013 (wide—2,800+ theaters)
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Relevant Issues
Copyright, Universal Pictures

stealing in the Bible

FILM VIOLENCE—How does viewing violence in movies affect families? Answer

murder in the Bible

death

sin and the Bible

goodness

final judgment

Featuring Denzel WashingtonRobert ’Bobby’ Trench
Mark WahlbergMarcus ’Stig’ Stigman
Paula PattonDeb
Bill PaxtonEarl
Fred Ward … Admiral Tuwey
James MarsdenQuince
Edward James OlmosPapi Greco
Robert John Burke … Jessup
See all »
Director Baltasar Kormákur
Producer Boom Entertainment
Emmett/Furla Films
See all »
Distributor Distributor: Universal Pictures. Trademark logo.Universal Pictures

“2 Guns” begins by showing Bobby (Denzel Washington) and Stig (Mark Wahlberg) at a small diner across the street from the bank they are going to rob. They are an easy-going pair that might as well be discussing an upcoming baseball game, rather than the hit they plan for the next day. Appearances can be deceiving.

Flashback to a week earlier where we learn the story began during Bobby and Stig’s last trip over the border to buy drugs from a kingpin named Papi Greco (Edward James Olmos). Bobby, who is actually an undercover Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) field agent, begins to plan the bank robbery with Stig who, as it turns out, is Naval Intelligence, also undercover. So how two U. S. Agencies end up colliding against each other, pursuing their own agents, a Mexican drug cartel and the CIA is revealed in the rest of the movie.

Violence: Heavy. As you can imagine people are killed in a variety of ways; many are shot, with a few that are direct to the chest, head and knees (during one of two torture scenes). Men are run over, blown up, stabbed and people are beaten in the face with baseball bats yet strangely no blood or gore are shown and a henchman is punched in the groin. Chicken heads are shot off for fun, and a man’s decapitated head is partially seen in a bag.

Language: Extreme. The movie is not wall to wall curses, but it seemed that way often and included the F-word (27x), s*** (26x), a**h*** (7x), b***h (5x) with crude nicknames for the male anatomy (5x) and the Lord’s name taken in vain 5 times. Others, heard only a few times, included “damn,” “hell,” “devil” and “piss.”

Sex/Nudity: Heavy. There are two scenes showing Bobby meeting Deb (DEA co-worker and ex-girlfriend) in a hotel room for sex (mostly implied), and she is seen both in her underwear and topless. The film takes full advantage of the “R” designation for violence, language and, to a lesser extent, the sex, but audiences should take the rating seriously. No one under 17 should see this.

A few points must be said about the film’s political slant. In order to come back across the border, Bobby and Stig are forced by the drug lord to swim/walk like other illegal immigrants do every day. This belies the reality that the drug cartels have financed much better ways of crossing the border, such as through sophisticated tunnels, however, this scenario plays into the hands of the current “immigration debate.”

CIA Executive Earl (Bill Paxton) states that America is the greatest because of the things we promote such as, “greed, selfishness and covetousness.” Though the character is portrayed as an unsavory one, this unfortunately promotes an anti-American bias in an otherwise short, throwaway scene. The fact that so many of the villains are also U.S. officials also lends credence to that viewpoint.

Lessons

During their tryst Deb (Paula Patton asks Bobby, “Did you ever really love me?” and Bobby responds, “I meant to.” While this is a sad commentary on their relationship, the scene made me consider the very real choice all of us have to make during our short time here on Earth. Immediately after we breathe our last, many will come face-to-face with Almighty God and have to answer why they never loved Jesus, God’s only Son, even though they always “meant to.” There can be no deceit at that time, and there will no longer be an opportunity for excuses.

“If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God” —Hebrews 10:26-27

“Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him” —John 14:21

Are you good enough to get to Heaven? Answer

How good is good enough? Answer

Perhaps most disheartening was when late in the film our heroes are seen planning something blatantly illegal. They are essentially using the “world's” excuse that “two wrongs equal a right,” but we should instead ask ourselves, “in that case how are they so different from the villains?” The Word of God clearly calls us to do otherwise.

“Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil but what is good. Anyone who does what is good is from God. Anyone who does what is evil has not seen God” —3 John 1:11

“2 Guns” is similar to many other “buddy” films, and the chemistry between Bobby and Stig, along with an intricately woven story made this a better than average entry into the category. Denzel Washington is a very charismatic actor, which is why I chose to see this movie in the first place. Unfortunately, the offensive content, along with mixed messages, detracted much from the film, and this is certainly not one of the nobler things the Apostle Paul suggested we pursue (Philippians 4:8), and so I cannot recommend this to Christians.

Violence: Heavy to extreme / Profanity: Extreme / Sex/Nudity: Heavy

“VOTING” FOR BAD MOVIES—Every time you buy a movie ticket or rent a video you are casting a vote telling Hollywood “That’s what I want.” Why does Hollywood continue to promote immoral programming? Are YOU part of the problem? Answer

See list of Relevant Issues—questions-and-answers.


Viewer CommentsSend your comments
Neutral
Neutral—This COULD HAVE BEEN an interesting film. The story has lots of twists and turns. However, two elements brought it down. The first is Wahlberg’s incessant banter. Gee, is risking your life and killing other people really so much “fun?” The second element is the “Let’s Be Black and White Buddies” theme. I thought we were past that and didn’t judge people by their skin color. I thought we had an African American President and many high-ranking African American persons in government and in business. This corny reference to “Salt and Pepper” relationship is a 1950’s message—which needed to be told—but you know, it’s not 1950 anymore. Does racial prejudice still exist? (Yes, it does, and I have personally been the “victim” of some Blacks hating me just because I’m White. So prejudice goes both ways and probably always will.)

This film doesn’t help that cause, it only brings it down to a cartoon level. I was hoping for a cool, slick adventure film and got an out of date lecture instead.
My Ratings: Moral rating: Average / Moviemaking quality: 3
Leonardo, age 71 (USA)
Comments from non-viewers
Negative—I haven’t seen this (seen the trailer though). I used to love Denzel Washington. But over the years I’ve been confused as to what he believes. I thought he was a christian, but I’ve seen him in Muslim apparel. Regardless, over time, his movies have become more and more strongly R rated. There’s always so much swearing that I want to leave the theater. So when I saw the trailer for this, I knew already the movie would be a very strong R rated movie. I’d save your money and go see something else like “Despicable Me 2.”
Matt, age 31 (USA)
Negative—Any form of media/entertainment that is not written or produced by the Holy spirit through a child of God for his people is ultimately from the enemy of our souls whom is after all “The prince of the airwaves” and no matter how much “Christians” compromise to “fit in” with the world it does not change the fact that even the most “conservative” of the movies you are promoting here glorify things like “sex out of marriage” “deception” and “violence” in the name of “fun”.

It reminds me of a song I heard many years ago “TV movies with an axe… really help me to relax… little minds to them belong as they are weak but the signals strong… yes, TV loves me… yes, TV loves me… yes, TV loves me… the beer adds tell me so” As Solomon so rightly declared “All is vanity” “and there is nothing new under the sun”. Every movie and song has been done before… its all a repeat of Satan’s mockery of man and his evil capabilities outside of his creator. I hope I don’t offend anyone, but this is the truth.
Robbie Anderson, age 50+ (United Kingdom)

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