Synopsis: Foul-mouthed mutant mercenary Wade Wilson (AKA. Deadpool), brings together a team of fellow mutant rogues to protect a young boy of supernatural abilities from the brutal, time-traveling mutant, Cable.
Release Date: May 18, 2018 MPAA Rating: PG-13
Genre(s): Action, Adventure
Film Review
Production
In the Marvel Cinematic Universe world, Deadpool is kind of an outsider, not quite fitting in with the X-Men universe, but straying even farther away from that of The Avengers. Still, despite this stepchild status, Deadpool still is a very viable property. Nothing makes this fact clearer than Deadpool 2.
Deadpool 2 sees Wade Wilson/Deadpool (Life‘s Ryan Reynolds) getting a shot at joining the X-Men. On his first training assignment, he meets a mutant kid named Russell (Julian Dennison from Hunt for the Wilderpeople), aka Fire Fist, whose mutant power is just that – he can throw fire from his fist. Deadpool befriends the child, and that’s a good thing because a baddie named Cable (Josh Brolin, fresh off of playing Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War) has come back in time on a mission to take Russell out.
Deadpool, along with his newly formed X-Force, teams up with his old friends Colossus (Stefan Kapicic from “Counterpart”) and Negasonic Teenage Warhead (Brianna Hildebrand from Tragedy Girls) to protect Russell and find out why Cable is after him.
For Deadpool 2, original Deadpool director (and effects guru) Tim Miller (who is rumored to be helming the new Terminator reboot) was replaced by stunt-friendly action filmmaker David Leitch (Atomic Blonde, John Wick), but the franchise does not miss a beat. The script was once again written by the Zombieland/G.I. Joe: Retaliation guys, Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, this time with help from Reynolds himself, so the wise-cracking, self-referential meta-mercenary is just as entertaining as he was last time around.
Honestly, the only thing that has changed with Deadpool 2 is the villain, and that is an upgrade, mainly because, like Josh Brolin’s “other” comic book bad guy, Cable is multi-dimensional, made up of many layers of grey instead of all blacks and whites. This also contributes to the shifting morality of the movie; at times, it’s hard to discern who the real antagonist is, and that’s a good thing.
Despite its R rating, Deadpool 2 is one of the more accessible superhero movies. Like its predecessor, it never takes itself too seriously, so it winds up being a fun, free-wheeling movie (something superhero fans need after the controversially downtrodden ending of Avengers: Infinity War). There are a handful of cool surprises, particularly for fans of the X-Men, and those surprises are more than just Easter egg background noise. Well, there’s plenty of Easter egg background noise as well, but there are major “ah-ha!” plot points that are best discovered organically by the viewer, so try not to let anyone spoil Deadpool 2 for you.
Like most Marvel movies, Deadpool 2 is pretty much review-proof. People know if they want to see it without seeing a word of press. And those people will not be disappointed. Deadpool 2 is a great example of not fixing something that isn’t broken. Even as the stepchild of the Marvel universe, Deadpool 2 continues to deliver the action and comedy that Deadpool fans expect.
Action Sequences
The action sequences in Deadpool 2 are a little more CG-based than one might expect from a director who is also a stuntman, but it all fits in with the slo-mo, freeze-frame, The Matrix-style of the first movie. The fight scenes are long and grand, but they come off as more like watching a video game than a movie. Which, judging by how clunky some of the visual effects are (Colossus literally looks – and moves – like a video game character), that was most likely the point.
The stop-time element of the fights lets the audience experience Deadpool’s razor-sharp reflexes while also allowing them to see what’s going on a bit better than they could in real-time. The brawls are not exactly Atomic Blonde-caliber, but one gets the impression that they’re not supposed to be. Deadpool 2 relies more on spectacle, and the action sequences have plenty of the “wow” factor.
Comedy Factor
Once again, the strength of Deadpool 2 lies within its humor. And, with the exception of a couple of sight gags (that should not be spoiled), the comedy is mostly verbal wit, and it’s almost exclusively provided by Deadpool himself, with the other characters playing the straight man and setting him up. Deadpool is sardonic, sarcastic, and sassy, and his one-liners happen so quickly that they’re easily missed because the audience is still laughing so hard from the one right before.
One minute, he’s telling Negasonic Teenage Warhead to “pump the brakes, Fox and Friends” when she accuses him of being homophobic and the next he’s asking Cable “you sure you’re not from the DC universe?” when he calls him “a clown dressed as a sex toy.” And Deadpool says it all so dryly and matter-of-factly that the audience can’t help but crack up. Deadpool 2 is the movie for people who like their superheroes with a side of belly laughs.
Cast and Crew
- Director(s): David Leitch
- Producer(s): Simon Kinberg, Ryan Reynolds, Lauren Shuler Donner
- Screenwriter(s): Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick, Ryan Reynolds
- Story: Rob Liefeld and Fabian Nicieza
- Cast: Ryan Reynolds (Wade/Deadpool), Josh Brolin (Nathan Summers/Cable). Brianna Heldebrand (Negasonic Teenage Warhead), Stefan Kapicic (Colossus), Zazie Beetz (Domino), Julian Dennison (Russell/FireFist), Karan Soni (Dopinder), Morena Baccarin (Vanessa), Bill Skarsgård (Zeitgeist), Terry Crews (Bedlam), Lewis Tan (Shatterstar), Rob Delaney (Peter)
- Editor(s): Craig Alpert
- Cinematographer: Jonathan Sela
- Costume Designer: Kurt and Bart
- Casting Director(s): Marisol Roncali, Mary Vernieu
- Music Score: Tyler Bates
- Country Of Origin: USA