Deadpool 2 (2018)

Review

119min

Genre:       Comic-book, Action, Adventure, Comedy

Director:    David Leitch

Cast:         Ryan Reynolds, Josh Brolin, Julian Dennison…and more

Writers:     Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick, Ryan Reynolds…and more

-Synopsis-

Everyone’s favourite fourth wall-breaking, quick-healing, wisecracking superhero returns with more clever quips and bad intentions, forming a ragtag team of disparate talents to save a gifted kid from the hands of a powerful futuristic super-soldier—on his own sombre quest to undo fate—and all in signature irreverent self-referential style of course.

Two years after Tim Miller and  Ryan Reynolds pulled a leaf out of the ‘Kick-Ass’ playbook and took the burgeoning R-Rated comic-book movie genre to a new level and stellar box-office results, Reynolds reunites with the first film’s writers and teams up with stunt supremo turned director David Leitch (John Wick, Atomic Blonde) to turbocharge a proven formula—taking the party deep into the night and giving us more action, more story . . . and of course more hilarious running commentary.

Reynolds returns as the ‘merc with a mouth’ hard-to-kill ‘Wade Wilson’, trying to bring positivity out of tragedy in his own inimitable way, by creating mayhem, as he ropes-in ‘X-Men’ second-stringers ‘Colossus’ (Stefan Kapicic) and ‘Negasonic Teenage Warhead’ (Brianna Hildebrand) into helping troubled teen mutant ‘Russell’ (Julian Dennison) escape his dark fate. When futuristic cyborg ‘Cable’ (Josh Brolin) travels back in time to change the future with his own plans for the gifted kid, ‘Deadpool’ recruits fellow mutant ‘Domino’ (Zazie Beetz) and a dodgy group to embark on a limb-slicing, time-travelling, wisecracking adventure to test film censors around the world.

If like most non comic-book readers you were delighted and surprised by the first film’s blend of sadistic graphic violence punctured by outrageous gut-busting self-referential comedy, it’s safe to say that much of the novelty is inevitably gone with ‘Deadpool 2’, and with great success comes great expectation . . . not to mention entitled audiences. But Reynolds & co. clearly know which side of their bread is buttered, wisely relying on the considerable comedic chops of their leading man while turning things up to eleven, making good use of a much larger budget to create bigger action set pieces with plenty of the ole’ ultra-violence—yet keeping things riotously funny throughout with their signature brand of contemptuous comedy, and peppering the audience with endless film and pop-culture references.

Reynolds is the undoubted star of the show here, the single biggest driving force behind getting the character onto our screens in the first place, and a perfect fit for playing him, excelling here as much as he did in the first one with the added responsibility of being the film’s official co-writer this time, putting his fingerprints all over the comedy and expertly delivering line after line—not to mention yet another superb marketing campaign which has proven almost as entertaining as the movie.

Yet this is very much Deadpool doing the superhero super-team thing, so everyone gets their moment in the sun here, with familiar faces like ‘Vanessa’ (Morena Baccarin) and ‘Weasel’ (T.J. Miller) making a welcome return, while everyone’s favourite cabbie ‘Dopinder’ (Karan Soni) really ups his game. However it’s the many new additions who make the greatest impact, with an impressively jacked Josh Brolin easily going toe-to-toe (and mouth to crotch) with Reynolds as the main co-star, and owning the spring box office after his ‘Avengers’ exploits—meanwhile Zazie Beetz makes a major career shift and brings plenty of girl power to the proceedings, and rebellious young Kiwi Julian Dennison goes Hollywood as the narrative lynchpin of the piece. But it’s the way that ‘Deadpool 2’ subverts the whole super-team thing—which has quickly become a Hollywood staple—that really catches the eye, so expect to see familiar faces and unfamiliar happenings.

When it comes to the story however things are slightly all over the place, and it’s not often we say this but in this case there’s probably too much of it. With time travel, an unconventional tale of family and belonging, a bit of genuine pathos and even some unexpected sentimentality thrown into the mix, ‘Deadpool 2’ proves surprisingly tonal and something of a narrative mess—despite the relatively simple central plot.

Ultimately though, who is really going to see a Deadpool film for the plot? The meandering story is so well dressed by self-referential hilarity, gruesome physical comedy and endlessly clever quips, not to mention the elevated levels of action, that it keeps the audience not only entertained but involved throughout—all the way through the gloriously brazen, course-correcting post-credit scenes.

Two films into this bold comic-book experiment and it no longer feels like we’re experiencing something particularly brilliant or groundbreaking, apart from the stellar promotional campaign that is—but there’s no denying it remains endlessly entertaining. With plots becoming more complex yet incidental, and with sequels ‘X-Force’ and ‘Deadpool 3’ in the pipeline, this series may well end up looking more like a superhero sitcom with periodic episodes than a cinematic universe with a master plan . . . and that may not be a bad thing. ‘Deadpool 2’ helps to solidify this franchise as a superior comedic alternative to much of what’s on the small screen, and perhaps the big screen too—and if Reynolds keeps delivering and 20th Century Fox keeps adorning it with style . . . we’ll probably keep on comin’.

The Bottom Line…

While the basic formula remains the same, the novelty of surprise is gone and the story may be both underwhelming and incidental, Ryan Reynolds & co. manage to refine and add to their bread-and-butter, treating us to a majorly entertaining and subversive comic-book flick, and as good a big studio comedy as you’re likely to see this year—carving out a place for themselves in the superhero super-team milieu and setting up a healthy franchise for 20th Century Fox . . . which may soon become a fully-fledged part of the Marvel universe.

Similar films you may like (Home Video)

Deadpool (2016)

In an effort to cure his terminal cancer, a mercenary volunteers for an experimental procedure that nearly destroys him but also leaves him with superhuman abilities, armed with a new identity and dark sense of humour, the wisecracking ‘merc with a mouth’ will hunt down those who tried to destroy him.

Directed by Tim Miller and starring Ryan Reynolds, Morena Baccarin and T.J. Miller among others.

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