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Synopsis
Following the events of the first film, our friendly neighborhood merc with a mouth (Ryan Reynolds) is still working as a mercenary, going after crime bosses, sex traffickers, and drug dealers in the way that only he could. Things seem to be going well for him and his love, Vanessa (Morena Baccarin) until a thug that Wade lets get away comes back with his goons to take out DP and inadvertently kill Vanessa. Grief-stricken, Wade decides to kill himself via massive explosion, but given his mutant healing ability, he can’t die. So, Colossus (Andre Tricoteux and Stefan Kapicic) takes him back to the X-Manor to get him to join the X-Men and hopefully help him get back on his feet. While there, he reunites with Negasonic Teenage Warhead (Brianna Hildebrand) and meets her new girlfriend Yukio (Shioli Kutsuna). DP, Colossus, and NTW then go to the Essex Orphanage after seeing a news report about a young boy named Rusty Collins (Julian Dennison), who has mutant powers and is in a stand-off with the police. DP manages to talk the kid down, but once Rusty tells him about how the staff at the orphanage mistreated and even tortured him, Pool starts shooting at the staff, only to get thrown in prison with Rusty. At the same time, a time-traveling cyborg from the future named Cable (Josh Brolin) travels to our time to eliminate Rusty for his reasons. Through a series of events, Wade manages to escape prison and, not wanting to leave the kid to his fate, decides to put together a team to rescue Rusty before Cable kills him.
Review
Much like the first film, Reynolds is the main driving force behind this film. Once again, he still delivers the same quips and referential humor as effectively as ever, but what makes things different here is that he’s developed more as a character. There are times when the movie gets pretty dark and severe, and Reynolds shows that he can not only be funny but also show some tears and get dramatic in some scenes. While Bacarrin doesn’t have much screen time in the film, she does pop up here and there from the beyond to help Wade figure out what he needs to do to be with her again. Likewise, Colossus and NTW, while still fun characters, don’t have much to do until the third act. Once they are, they both shine, especially Colossus in his major fight scene. Here, many newcomers are given a bit more of the spotlight, especially Dennison, Brolin, and Zazie Beetz as Domino, a fellow mercenary whose superpower is that she’s lucky. All three of them fit into their roles excellently: Dennison being equal parts funny, tragic, frightening, and sympathetic at times, Brolin playing Cable with such a scowl and dryness that he’s almost like a cyborg version of a character from a Clint Eastwood Western, and Beetz who has a lot of fun bouncing off the other characters and constantly showing DP how luck is absolutely a superpower. As I somewhat hinted at before, what makes this one incredibly different is how, for all the action sequences and crude/referential humor throughout, some emotional character-driven scenes get very dramatic and, luckily, aren’t interrupted by a joke. This movie does a great job of balancing tone where many others fail. Despite this, the film still has plenty of great action sequences, especially around the middle of the second act when Deadpool and his team, known as the X-Force, have to board a moving prison transport that Rusty is in. Given this comes from the same people who made John Wick and Atomic Blonde, the action sequences are well-filmed and have an authentic and gritty feel.
Of course, not every movie is perfect, and as much fun as this is, Deadpool 2 is not without its flaws. For instance, as I alluded to before, aside from Reynolds, many of the returning cast don’t have much to do. That’s not to say that they’re reduced to being nothing more than cameos, but don’t expect a ton of back-and-forths between DP and Blind Al, as with the first one. Also, I never thought I would say this about a Deadpool movie, but at times, Deadpool can be kind of annoying. Granted, most of the time, he’s still as humorous and fun as he was before, but there are moments when I almost want him to stop. If anything, there were times when I was more on board with Cable since he was such a badass, and Brolin played him so well. Even so, those moments are few and far between. And while I would typically complain about some of the cliches and extreme coincidences in the film, it’s still bright enough to recognize these as such and even poke fun at them. So, all in all, is it better than the first one? No. Is it still an entertaining and all-around good time? Absolutely. Will this be as memorable and quotable as the first one? Maybe, but probably not as much. Should you still give it a chance? Well, if you liked the first one, then absolutely do it. Also, be sure to stick around through the credits cause there’s a mid-credits scene that is one of the best gags in the entire movie.
Once again, suck on it, Wolverine!
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