DEADPOOL 2 REVIEW

Deadpool has had an extraordinary cinematic journey. It’s remarkable when you think back on the approving voice of the fans when the test footage was leaked. From then on, there has been nothing but confidence in the Deadpool character and Ryan Reynolds to bring us a film that obliterated box office records, but more important than anything was entertaining. Deadpool 2 was shaping up to be bigger in every area and it was certainly shaking up to be just that. The marketing was more diverse, the action was going to be much larger in scope and the references would be bountiful to meet fan expectations. Those expectations will be met, but for someone like myself who loves to evaluate and analyses films, Deadpool is showing it’s first cracks in the mold.

I’ve mentioned before that there are certain characters that almost seamlessly become an actor’s property because you can’t think of anyone else who could pull off a better portrayal. Deadpool belongs to Ryan Reynolds and of course, he is fantastic as Deadpool/Wade Wilson (were you expecting anything else?). His performance carries all the superhero and pop culture humor the film has to offer and it offers a lot. In a surprising turn, he also guides us through a direction that I never thought they would take the Deadpool character. There are more twisted storylines, a lot more foreign to what we would have expected, but in those moments, Ryan Reynolds shows us that not only is he a great Deadpool, but also a great actor in more emotionally demanding scenes.

As well as returning characters we also get a whole host of new faces, two of which will be an unexpected surprise, to say the least. Luckily these new additions strike the same chord as Colossus and Negasonic Teenage Warhead did in the first film. The additions of Cable (Josh Brolin) and Domino (Zazie Beetz) I enjoyed for individual reasons. Josh Brolin has already solidified himself as a great villain in Thanos, now he can add Cable to his list. Brolin has always been an impressive actor when he plays hardened characters with an understandable motivation and although he wasn’t on screen for the first few scenes of the film, when he does appear he has a fantastic presence. Domino, on the other hand, must be credited for the way the filmmakers presented her superpower of luck. There is another road chase sequence just like the last film where Deadpool jokes about luck not being a superpower but as he’s doing that we see Domino’s luck in action. Using these juxtaposition elements and classic Deadpool comedy added so much humor to the scene.

Many improvements have been made to ensure the satisfactory sequel we were expecting. As previously discussed, the actions scenes were more thrilling, and the comedy is still a barrel of laughs. Speaking of which, this film has probably the greatest end credit scenes in any Marvel film. If ever there was a time to stay after the credits it would be after Deadpool 2. We all know the character is famous for his 4^th wall breaking, but the end credits are where this device is utilized the best, obviously, I won’t spoil anything but it’s probably the moment I laughed the loudest.

Despite this, cracks are beginning to reveal themselves now more than ever. There is a problem with these runaway success films, and I’ve seen it happen more in the superhero genre. When a film does something refreshing it creates surprise and news of this gets spread through various means, a sequel is announced but by now we know what to expect and there’s a lot of pressure to claw back that same surprise value. Some films like Aliens and The Dark Knight are good examples of it succeeding but most of these types of films can’t accomplish this. Deadpool 2, unfortunately, must join the club. There was too much that had already been done before for my liking and I was a little disappointed by this.

Another part of why the film fails to surprise is the story. This is going to be a common criticism of Deadpool 2 I believe. In the first film (and part of this film also), Deadpool refuses to join the X-Men at every opportunity. It seemed to be a persistent part of his character however when he decides to create his own team, derogatively named X-Force, there’s no strong character reasoning to suddenly wanting to team up. It seems like the writers were trying to overwrite Deadpool’s character which confused me as they already had a near-perfect character profile so why make this change so suddenly? Why would you contradict a character’s ideology?

I’m going to have to do something that a lot of people are probably going to disagree on, but although the humor is still laugh out loud funny, I think it could have been better. The first Deadpool was a mix of pop culture and superhero jokes that we’re evenly spread so that it could appeal to those who watch and don’t watch superhero films. In Deadpool 2 I felt there were more superhero jokes than pop culture or traditional jokes. Despite this, I did enjoy the moments when the film would joke about its own elements like writing, CGI, cinematography etc.

This is an entertaining film no questions asked, and director David Leitch has done well in bringing a satisfactory sequel to Deadpool fans. I feel however it had lost a bit of magic from the first film and more effort is needed for future installations. You have perfect characters, but there are still avenues needed to be explored to find a perfect story. Deadpool 2 felt it was trying to be bigger for the sake of being bigger not for the sake of moving forward. Still, I was laughing, I was entertained and if this is the best that could have been, it will do for now.

Final Result: 7/10 – Good

(For fans)

Have you seen Deadpool 2? What did you think? Please let me know your thoughts and opinions in the comments below.

Next Time: Submergence