Diksha Sundriyal
‘2 Guns’ (2013) is a buddy action-comedy that stars Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg in the role of undercover agents who get embroiled in a complicated turn of events when their missions go awry. Unbeknownst to each other’s real job, they pose as criminals and rob a bank that was supposed to have only three million but ends up having more than forty-three million. Throughout events, several secrets come out, especially about the real source of the money and what it was intended for. Somewhere down the line, a man named Harvey is revealed to have been a crucial element of all that transpires in the film. If you are wondering who he is and what role he plays in the story, then here’s what you need to know.
Who is Harvey?
Harvey’s name is first mentioned in context with Debbie’s new boyfriend. Early in the film, it is revealed that Washington’s character, Bobby, is a DEA agent and so is Debbie. They had a relationship, and Debbie was more invested in it than Bobby. He never got serious enough to even call her his girlfriend which frustrated her a lot. When Bobby was sent undercover, Debbie met Harvey.
When Bobby comes back in the picture again, he asks Debbie about her new boyfriend but she rebuffs him and says that there is no Harvey. At first, Bobby believes that Debbie is not talking about Harvey because she doesn’t want to talk about her new boyfriend with him. It isn’t until much later that he discovers that Harvey is much more than her boyfriend. He is her accomplice.
Harold Quince, played by James Marsden, was Stig’s superior who sent him on the mission to steal the Mexican crime lord Papi’s money to fund the Navy’s secret operations. Stig was told that there would be three million dollars, but they break into the bank, and the money turns out to be a much higher amount. Still, Stig does his job and gets the money to Quince, who says that he is sending the money to the Naval base. In reality, however, the Navy has no idea about the heist.
Back at the DEA, Bobby was sent undercover to find something that would help get Papi arrested. The man that he was supposed to turn into an informant is killed which means that he would have to acquire a different path. He is told to rob the bank that holds Papi’s money so that they can get him for something like tax evasion and then build something from there.
Both Bobby and Stig were made to collaborate under the pretense of making the other one the fall guy. Bobby hoped to put the blame for the robbery on Stig, believing that it wouldn’t be so bad because Stig was already a criminal. Stig, similarly, had no problem killing Bobby after the heist because he believed Bobby was in cahoots with the Papi. What they didn’t know is that they were specifically chosen by their superiors and their backgrounds were deliberately kept a secret from them.
What happened was, Debbie and Quince found out about the CIA money separately. They knew that the forty million was just sitting there and they knew that the money was brought from the drug cartels who paid their dues to the CIA. When Debbie and Quince’s paths cross each other’s, instead of trying to one-up the other, they decided to join their resources and split the money. They hoped that Bobby and Stig would kill each other and no one would ever suspect Debbie and Quince.
So, the Harvey that Bobby had been hearing about Harold Quince, whom Debbie met regularly to discuss their plans about the money. Bobby figures it out when he and Stig try to hide in her house for a while, but suddenly a group of Naval officers attacks them. Bobby wonders how they knew about Debbie’s place. Stig had come to her place for the first time and he didn’t know about her and Bobby’s relationship, so he couldn’t have told them about it before they went on the run. The only explanation was that she was involved with Quince and together, they had conspired to set up him and Stig while walking away with the money themselves.
Read More: Is 2 Guns (2013) Based on a True Story?
