Deadpool 2

Reviews from the Dark Side
Deadpool 2
Released 5/18/18

The murderous, irreverent, fourth wall-breaking Merc with a Mouth is back this week.  Let us all rejoice!  Isn't that how many of us felt after 2016's groundbreaking (re) debut of Deadpool?  We'll forget about the abomination we saw in X-Men Origins:  Wolverine.  A lot of people, including Ryan Reynolds, want to.  In fact, there's an amusing segment on that in the end credits of this film.  Why was the 2016 outing groundbreaking?  Only because it became the highest grossing R-rated movie in history.  Sequels in general usually have much to live up to.  Especially sequels to irrefutable smash hits.  Deadpool 2 has a lot riding on it.  Particularly, as it's the one saving grace of Fox's faltering X-Men franchise.

We find Wade Wilson/Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) up to his usual mercenary hijinks to start in a dizzying montage of murder and mayhem.  When tragedy strikes, Wade finds himself in a crippling depression that even returning X-Men allies Colossus and Negasonic Teenage Warhead cannot break (although NTW couldn't care less).  The only thing that reaches Wade is an angry unstable young mutant, Russell Collins, who he meets on a mission reluctantly accompanying the X-Men.  What complicates matters is the sudden appearance of a tough-as-nails soldier from the future, Cable (Josh Brolin), who has a few bad intentions for the child.  With bridges to his X-Men allies burned, Wade must assemble a new team of misfits to stop the unstoppable future soldier.  But, is the child really worth the save when he only shows himself to be a huge potential menace?

Now the question is does the sequel live up to its predecessor?  My answer to that is yes and no.  Deadpool was going to be a hard act to follow.  It does definitely fall short of the 2016 film.  But, it is better than some sequels in general, and many comedy sequels in particular.

Let's start with what worked.  When you're talking Deadpool, you have to start with comedy.  While there's humor throughout, there are three standout segments for me.  There's a marvelously wacky tribute to James Bond openings in this film's opening credits scene.  The end credits scene of Wade righting prior wrongs is hysterical even though they're rehashed sentiments that have been expressed before.  And, by far, the best part of movie involves the consequences of the newly formed "X-Force" skydiving from an airplane.  That was inspired lunacy that almost made me hurt myself  laughing.

Most of the supporting cast from the original film is back including Vanessa (Morena Baccarin), NTW (Brianna Hildebrand), and Weasel (T.J. Miller).  There are two new characters of note added to the mix, the previously mentioned Josh Brolin as Cable and Zazie Beets as the mutant mercenary, Domino.  Brolin has a couple of memorable physical altercations with Reynolds' Deadpool.  Beets is the standout as the "lucky" mutant mocked by DP and pretty much the only competent member of X-Force.

But, therein lies part of the issues I had with DP2.  While Brolin and Beets were more than adequate in their roles from an acting standpoint, neither really looked the part of their characters to me.  Yes, here's where my comic geek roots kick in.  Unlike with Brolin's Thanos in Infinity War, there was very little CGI to enhance Cable.  And while he had the demeanor and most of the aesthetic look of Cable, there's one thing Brolin can't escape.  While he got in great shape for the role, he's not an overly large guy.  Cable is huge.  As much as I wanted to, I just didn't quite buy him as this character.  It's exactly the way I've come to view Tom Hardy as Bane in The Dark Knight Rises.  Getting buff doesn't add inches to your height or make a smaller body frame into a hulk.  For those not familiar take a look at the character I know:

As for Beets, let me preface this by saying my thoughts on her appearance have nothing to do with race.  I'm not even sure if Marvel has ever revealed Domino's nationality.  The point is that no matter what that might be, she has a very unique look that could have been remedied by a makeup artist.  Honestly, I've seen better aesthetic renditions of Domino by cosplayers and actresses in fan made films.  And note I would be saying this whether Domino was played by an African-American, Caucasian, Asian, Indian, or whatever actress was hired for the part.  Do whatever you want with the hair, but, give me the chalk white skin with the black eye patch.  That's Domino.

But, those are relatively minor complaints.  My major one is that DP2 really did suffer from a common sequel weakness.  It tried too hard to be bigger and better.  The jokes, while still funny, didn't hit with the same impact.  I didn't think not having Tim Miller on board as the director for this one would matter as much as it did.  But, I felt DP2 was put together as more of a string of incidents for Ryan Reynolds to riff from more than it was an actual story.  The writing in the first film felt much tighter.  

I complained in my review of the first DP that the first film had fairly vanilla main villains who were adequate, but, nothing to write home about.  Well, they were the gold standard compared to Russell Collins and his partner (who I'll get around to shortly).  The fact that Russell is a kid automatically gives him plot armor because you know Wade wasn't likely to gut or behead him no matter how evil and obnoxious he was.  I know the kid had reasons for why he was the way he was, but, it didn't make him any less annoying or more interesting.  I just wasn't feeling this kid at all.  His attempts to be "gangsta" were cringeworthy at best.

Let's get to the sidekick.  For all you Juggernaut fans out there, the character makes his first appearance since X-Men:  The Last Stand.  That's the good news.  The bad?  You still don't have a version to be proud of.  Although, to be fair, DP2 does provide the true reason the character wears that large helmet.  But, as you would expect in this type of movie, Juggernaut is basically (and literally in his final battle sequence) the butt of a joke.  Plus the Juggernaut/Colossus battle has some shoddy CG at times.  Again, to be fair, this could have been intentional given DP's statement prior to the fight.

From what I understand, Ryan Reynolds had major input in the writing of DP2.  If that's the case, that might have been a mistake.  Even though the film makes stabs at providing some dramatic heft, it was a little weird paired with the often sophomoric comedy.  And that's the other thing.  Many of the jokes in DP2 weren't much different than DP.  Oh, I was still amused, but, there was something that felt a little off and flat to me this time around.  Jokes didn't have the same kind of bite.  The narrative was a little bit all over the place.  Want proof?  Cable had a certain motivation for pursuing Russell throughout the film.  Once that issue is resolved and he is able to go back to his timeline to a future he helped to create, he suddenly decides not to?  What was the purpose of you being in the current timeline in the first place if you aren't going to go back?  That decision just turns out to be a convenient plot device for DP's shenanigans during the end credits scenes.

I wanted to like DP2 more than I did.  I really tried to.  I twisted myself into all types of crazy contortions to try to see it differently.  But, the bottom line is, the magic just wasn't there for me this time around.  This is a pale comparison to the 2016 film which I will now call a classic .  It's not awful.  There is enough of the DP zaniness to say that it's not a total waste of time.  But, it's still disappointing.  Much like Horrible Bosses and Sinister, DP is cursed with a  watchable, but, mediocre sequel after crafting a tremendous opening act.  That's something at least.  Most follow-ups fall well short of even that.  I give DP2 a thumbs up, but, not resoundingly so.

The Dark Lord of the Sith says:

***1/4 stars

Ratings Legend

0*= Don't waste your time. Pure dreck! Dreck is too good for this! Blind me please!
1 *= Fuggedaboutit!
2 *= Average, Mediocre, Nothing Special
3 *= Worth a look.  Better than a poke in the eye.
4 *= Great. I'm doing my happy dance!
5 *= Pure eye candy. I have seen the top of the mountain, and it is good