PLOT: Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) runs afoul of a time-traveling cyborg soldier, Cable (Josh Brolin), while attempting to protect a mutant with dangerous abilities.
REVIEW: I’ll admit to not having been the biggest fan of DEADPOOL. While I respect Fox’s decision to allow Tim Miller and Ryan Reynolds the freedom to make their own, uncompromised version of the fan-favorite character, the finished film didn’t do all that much for me – although there were things that I liked about it. Suffice to say, I walked into DEADPOOL 2 expecting more of the same, and while this sequel is very much along the lines of the first, the added firepower of director David Leitch, along with his ace DP Jonathan Sela, makes this the rare sequel to, in my opinion anyway, improve on the original.
Any fans worried that DEADPOOL 2 would water-down the comedy in favor of action will be pleased by the opening teaser, where Wade Wilson mocks the box-office success of the first film and throws shade at LOGAN for copying their R-rating. If there was a lot of breaking the fourth wall in the first film, the sequel goes even further, with nary a scene not reminding us that this is a very meta-journey, with Deadpool, at one point, even signing his name Ryan Reynolds in a throwaway bit. The Fox-Disney merger also proves to be excellent fodder, with Deadpool constantly musing that his own adventures are a lot lower tech than Disney’s and that a lot of his X-Force buddies seem more than a little similar to their bigger-budget counterparts.
It all adds up to a heck of a fun ride, even for someone not totally sold on the first. The premise itself plays out like a spoof of LOGAN, with Wade serving as a protector for a young mutant (HUNT FOR THE WILDERPEOPLE’s Julian Dennison – a scene-stealer) who seems determined to go down the super-villain path. This puts him in the crosshairs of Cable, with Josh Brolin’s old-school machismo a perfect counterpoint to Reynolds’s shtick. They play off each other perfectly.
Zazie Beetz, as X-Force recruit Domino also proves immediately iconic, making the potential for an X-FORCE spinoff minus Deadpool a real possibility. Neither her, nor Brolin goes all-in silly like Reynolds does, so potentially it could be done as a straight-actioner without any retooling. Both would be up to it. Like the first, this is loaded with easter eggs, including cameos, and a major part for a familiar character that hasn’t been revealed yet.
If DEADPOOL 2 suffers from anything; it’s once again the lack of a good villain. Deadpool is so indestructible, it’s hard to really give-off any sense of danger, and the shoehorned in baddie doesn’t work all that well. Luckily, Leitch keeps DEADPOOL 2 going at such a frenetic pace you won’t really mind this flaw. It should also be noted this is among the most violent films ever put out by a mainstream studio, with even Deadpool himself getting torn limb from limb (in graphic fashion) on more than one occasion. Yet, it’s all so tongue-in-cheek that despite perhaps there being more blood than in a vintage Paul Verhoeven movie, it’s still probably ok for older kids.
I have to hand it to Reynolds and co – they really pulled off a good DEADPOOL sequel and managed to improve on the original in a real way. I had a much better time with this one than I did on the first, and some of the gags, including an amazing mid-credits sequence (that I hope won’t be spoiled), are all-timers for the genre. It’s hard not to imagine DEADPOOL fans not being utterly thrilled with this.