After seeing Deadpool 2 (DP2), a friend called me up to ask what I thought about it, he tends to do this whenever I see major blockbusters before he does, presumably because he trusts my judgement or at least I think he does. I replied somewhat calmly, that "it was a good watch and mostly more of the same" no doubt he found my response shocking cause I could hear the terror in his voice, or rather the lack of a voice. "Was it that bad?" he finally asked, "No man nothing like that, on the contrary I really had a good time, you'd love it", he found his voice again "Awesome, I'll check it out!". But I meant what I said, DP2 was more of the same but in no way, was that a bad thing, at least not yet...
SPOILER WARNING: THIS ARTICLE CONTAINS CHIMICHANGAS
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| Oh, you're back for more? |
After the awesome reception of its unexpectedly super-successful first film - Deadpool (2016), Twentieth Century Fox needed no invitation in adding a sequel to the latest golden goose of its Marvel universe. Based on the Marvel comics character with the same name, Deadpool rejuvenated the Rs in R-Rated superhero movies, with its potty mouthed dialogue, glorified violence and carefree approach, it had other studios considering joining the bandwagon. DP2 picks up where Wade Wilson left us; wondering what an unkillable, unf**kable, superpowered, mercenary would do after saving the girl and killing the bad guy? well, it turned out to be pretty much what you'd expect; Kill more bad guys! Ryan Reynolds's reprises his role as our favourite 'Merc With A Mouth', as did most of the cast from the first film; Morena Baccarin (Vanessa), T.J Miller (Weasel), Leslie Uggams (Blind Al), Karan Soni (Dopinder), Stefan Kapicic (Colossus) and Brianna Hildebrand (Teenage Negasonic Warhead), all returned for another go at the superhero genre unhinged, insane and unrestricted storytelling. DP2 doubles its roster with a number of new character additions; Josh Brolin (Cable) , Zazie Beetz (Domino), Julian Dennison (Russell/Firefist) and even a cameo by Brad Pitt (Vanisher) among others.
When I said I DP2 was "mostly more of the same" I meant it, and for most part I was right. Like most sequels it retained much of what made the first film so successful and doubled down on it; The guy who looked like an avocado had hate-sex with an older more disgusting avocado - No brainer, more bloody violence complete with multiple dismemberings - why else would I watch this?, a spoonful of tongue in cheek humour - definitely need some of that, a serving 4th Wall breaks - Bring it! Not many other superhero films can deliver that in one beautifully wrapped box, so in that sense, we always knew what we were gonna get. It was never expected to have an Oscar winning story line, but then again that wasn't what we loved the first film for.
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| Nathan Summers aka Cable |
DP2's biggest attraction and highest profile appearance is without a doubt Cable. After being teased to feature in the sequel, in Deadpool's after credit scene, DP2 saw the live action debut of Nathan Summers (real name), the time hopping super soldier from the future and son of popular X-Men couple Scott Summers (Cyclops) and Jean Grey (that's the simple version). Josh Brolin's Cable (5'8") may not have been as tall as his comic book counterpart (6'8") (as pointed out by Mr. Pool) but he's certainly not short on intensity and brooding. All in all I think Cable's big screen debut went quite well, even though I did find the time travel restriction pretty lame (also pointed out by Mr Pool), I mean it's freaking Cable, timelines are his bitch! Cable's chemistry with Deadpool or rather the lack of it was pretty amusing and it would be fun to see how they team up buddy cop style in DP3 if it's ever made. Fellow X-Force member Domino also makes her big screen debut in this one; She's hot, she's lucky, and she'll kick your ass, who wouldn't want to be on her team?
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| Cross my heart and hope to lie |
T.J Miller and Karan Soni return as Deadpool's powerless sidekicks; the comic reliefs of Wade's World (but who in this film isn't?) Weasel is unashamedly weak and is admittedly very charming while at it and just utters some of the funniest sh!t you'll ever hear, while Dopinder's dedicates his life in service of being a living weapon to not much success.
There's also more to the narrative of Colossus and Wade's friendship as the steel giant comes to the aid of his friend in his darkest hour and despite Wade's many delinquent transgressions, Colossus still believes he can be an X-Man (wonder where he keeps getting that from). Negasonic Warhead (isn't teenage anymore) but much like the first film her appearances are sparse but made rich by she and Wade's childlike banter. The studio finally could afford some tier 1 X-Men to occupy the Xavier mansion, even if it was for a second or so. Ad hoc superhero team; X-Force's first live adaptation is probably the worst team debut ever, admittedly they weren't the most likable set of characters assembled, but man did they ever go out so badly.
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| Like Russell, Deadpool 2 is very badly behaved |
DP2 resurrects the Juggernaut from the ashes of X-Men: The Last Stand, which was quite a surprise, I thought Vinnie Jone's iteration of the character in that film was the last we'd seen of him on the big screen and to be honest I was quite disappointed that he turned out to be the big bad after all the foreboding. I did find his big CGI fight with Colossus quite entertaining though. The mid credit scenes were just insane, as Deadpool 'borrows' Cable's time travel device to make some minor adjustments, its pretty thought pondering stuff and hilarious too. At this point Ryan Reynolds seems to be inseparable from the character of Wade Wilson/Deadpool, and it goes to show how much he's embraced the character, with the amount of resources he's put in to make it such a success. And it's so great to see actors embody these timeless characters into almost a dual identity recently. DP2 was unapologetically Deadpool, funnier, raunchier and longer than its predecessor, it goes way harder than the first film and consistently pushed the envelope, or rather, past it, cause that's the thing, at this point Deadpool seems to have no boundaries, the franchise is unafraid to try anything because chances are, it will work, and when it occasionally doesn't, the non existent fourth wall allows the studio call out its own blunders to hilarious effect. Its genius and I don't think any film ever will repeat it with similar success, maybe unless there is a DP3.
RejectRating: 7.5/10
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