It's good enough for Blu-ray purchase to go on my shelf with the other superhero films, but it's not a masterpiece. Here is my movie content review...
I could not quite get fully on board with the 2016 film, Deadpool, and I cannot get fully on board with its new sequel, Deadpool 2. For me, these movies are the cinematic equivalent of walking through a Spencer's Gifts store at the local mall. The jokes and gags are just raunchy enough to shock someone's elderly grandparents, but there's a cheaply generic brand marketing predictability to the end result.
The humor comes across wonderfully well in small doses, as the trailers for both of these movies have proven, but, over the course of a two-hour feature, the relentless barrage of genital references is strangely exhausting, even for an overgrown middle school kid like me. By the time the climactic superhero showdowns start up, my mind is wandering, and I'm thinking about what I'm going to eat for dinner after I leave the theater.
On the plus side, Deadpool 2 ultimately works for the same reason that its predecessor worked. The title character, played with a solid blend of cynicism and earnestness by Ryan Reynolds, has the coolest outfit of any comic book superhero (or at least he did until Black Panther emerged onto the scene), and the gleefully gory slow-motion fight sequences never fail to entertain. Morena Baccarin, who stole my heart with her role in the Firefly television series years ago, is perfect as the love interest. The well-justified comedic jabs at the X-Men movies, by way of the inclusions of Colossus, as voiced by Stefan Kapicic, and Negasonic Teenage Warhead, as played by Brianna Hildebrand, always bring a smile to my face.
This time around, Cable, a nemesis character played by Josh Brolin, joins the fold, and, as expected, we get the obligatory nod to his role as Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War. The highlight of Deadpool 2, however, is Zazie Beetz as Domino, a character whose endless stroke of good luck provides the best laughs and the best violence of the story.
The cynic in me wishes that these Deadpool movies would follow through with their subversive approach until the end instead of diluting the narratives with the heavy-handed themes of responsibility and teamwork that grace all of the present-day superhero films, but the part of me that never tires of special effects eye candy and cool-looking battles has to tip my hat anyway. If you enjoyed the first Deadpool movie, then this one brings the same “maximum effort” enthusiasm to the table, and, as such, earns my recommendation.
The opening credits sequence, which rips from the James Bond 007 intros, is golden. If you're a 1980s kid like me, then you'll get a kick of the music soundtrack as well.
Be on the lookout for a priceless Brad Pitt cameo.
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Deadpool 2 (2018)
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