Just a few weeks ago we were hanging out with the Avengers stressing out on who’s going to live and who’s going to die. Now we’re hanging out and laughing our ass off with Deadpool. Thank you, Ryan Reynolds, we needed this.
Deadpool 2 is the sequel to the 2016 Valentines Day hit, Deadpool. The film follows the merc with the mouth, Wade Wilson A.K.A Deadpool. After the events of the first film, Deadpool has become a contracted killer. Going around the world and killing gangsters. mobsters, and any other horrible criminals in the world. One day Deadpool comes across a kid named Russel who has mutant abilities to produce fire from his hands. The kid is being hunted by a man named Cable (Josh Brolin), a war hero from the future who is hunting the kid. Deadpool must form a team to save the kid from the prison he’s kept in and keep Cable away from the kid.
You may read that and immediately think of Terminator or Looper, and you’re exactly right. While this does have a familiar plot it still manages to make the whole experience fun. How does it manage to do that you may ask? Because it’s Deadpool being thrown into a terminator plot line. Any other character would just make it feel like a rip-off or discount version of those movies I listed above. But with Deadpool, you get that 4th wall breaking comedy, and get self-realization of how silly the movie is. Which brings me to the best strength of this film. The acting. This by far I think is the best acting I’ve seen from an entire cast in a superhero film.
Everyone knows the tone of the film. Everyone knows exactly how to play their character to make this all work. The acting is just so good. Ryan Reynolds knocks it out again as Deadpool. The returning casts are great once again. Brolin does great as the stern and serious Cable making him perfect to bounce off of Deadpool. Zazie Beetz as Domino, who has the superpower of luck, has great banter with Deadpool and knows to play her character as this woman who knows that her superpower is luck. She’s very much the straight man or straight woman in this case. Being the person who is the most down to earth. Knowing she gets away with anything and living carefree. Even Russel being a potty mouth referencing kid perfectly goes well with Deadpool since it’s literally just Deadpool if he had a son. Just the acting in this film is done so well. Everyone perfect plays their characters. Hell, the film has even some emotional moments which was the last thing I expected when walking into Deadpool 2.
But, most of you here are wondering about the comedy. How does the comedy hold up this time? I would say on par with the first. I laughed plenty of times throughout the film because of Deadpool’s quick one-liners or references. But the biggest strength of the comedy is the fact that Deadpool has more people to play off of in this film. The first film you had just had TJ Miller and Dopinder for most of the film. There was Colossus, Nega Sonic, Blind Al, Vanessa, and Ajax (who was just a generic villain), but they were in the film very little. In this sequel, he has Russel, Cable, Domino, and the returning cast to play off of way more throughout the film. With more characters to bounce off of the comedy to me helps keep it on par with the first film and even makes it superior in some ways. Hell, I even think Deadpool is less annoying here than the first one. I remember moments in the first film where I was getting tired of Deadpool. Here with a larger cast to bounce off of, it’s just him constantly spouting out one-liners again and again. I also think this time around the 4th wall breaking was more true to the character and was handled better this time around. For me, I just found the comedy here to be about as funny as the first except for a few callback jokes and some dated joke like the jabs at DC. Like it’s 2018 the Batman vs Superman Martha joke is dead. I get it was a dumb scene but the internet beat that scene to death.
One thing I noticed is that everything technical about the film is better looking than the first. I know this is one thing not a lot of people go into these films looking for but I very much appreciated it this time around. Cinematography, lighting, and color correction is so much better here than the first film. David Leitch is the director here who co-directed the first John Wick film and the guy knows how to film action and make colors pop if you’ve seen the Wick films. Which is surprising cause once again the film had a small budget and yet it looks great. From set design to most of the CGI, it looks good. Especially when compared to DC films which had way higher budgets than both Deadpool films combined. The first film, however, has this grainy gloomy look for most of the movie. With this sequel, you can notice how much better it looks by the photos down below and some of the clips I’ve posted in the review.
The action in the film is greatly improved. With the first film, I only thought that the opening sequence was the best and only good action scene of the film. Here in the sequel all of them are filmed much better and choreographed better too. The scene where Domino fights anyone and luck comes always pulls her out of every situation is like watching a Final Destination film where any of her attackers meet their doom in horrible ways. By far the convoy action scene to rescue Russel is the best action scene. It has the best action and jokes in the film.
Overall I highly recommend Deadpool 2. I had a blast watching the film and think it’s such a significant improvement to the first film. It’s too early to tell but I may be in the minority with this but I’m confident in my opinion. Oh and stay for the credits. It’s by far the best credit stinger in any of these superhero films.
Final Grade: A
Pros:
- Great perfomances
- Better technical film making
- Funny throughout
- Great writing
- Superior action
Cons:
- References may not appeal to audiences
- Some emotional moments don’t feel earned
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