written by Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick, and Ryan Reynolds
When the first Deadpool movie released in 2016, it felt like a trial run. With obvious budgetary constraints and a leaden origin story to contend with, the film was simply nowhere near as subversive as it occasionally presented itself to be. Nonetheless, that movie was a massive hit, proving the ability of R-rated superhero movies to succeed commercially, paving the way for the likes of 2017's excellent Logan as well as a much higher budget for its own inevitable sequel.
That higher budget was the first sign of hope for Deadpool 2, promising an improvement over the first film's tepid, sluggish action scenes. Adding to this was the recruitment of Atomic Blonde director David Leitch, a director already noted for his skill with charismatic performances and stylish fight scenes. Both of those make this sequel a more entertaining film than its predecessor, but the increased energy of the action and spectacle have come with a stronger, denser script from the writing team, whose continued reliance on pop culture references is offset by a much greater level of both wit and absurdity, as well as a significantly less intrusive plot which makes for a still somewhat uneven but altogether highly enjoyable action-comedy.
Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) is Deadpool, a killer-for-hire whose mutant powers allow him to recover easily from any injury, even replacing limbs which have been dismembered. When circumstances eventually lead him to encounter the fire-controlling orphan boy Russell (Julian Dennison) and time-travelling cyborg Cable (Josh Brolin), which leads Deadpool to assemble a team consisting of Domino (Zazie Beetz) and several less important characters to stop the latter from killing the former.
To the extent that Deadpool 2 even has a narrative, it's anarchic and convoluted, constantly shifting almost entirely as a result of the titular character's apathy towards nearly everyone and everything around him. It's somewhat difficult to condense the story into a paragraph, but that doesn't mean it's hard to follow, as the constantly shifting dynamics occur as a result of clear character motivations from all but the most incidental of characters. Many story details are similarly cliched to the origin story which comprised much of the first film, but they're significantly less intrusive, which provides a very refreshing change of pace from the plotty nature of far too many studio tentpoles, and their rapid shifting keeps the film surprising even at its least inventive.
Reynolds is still clearly having a great time as Deadpool himself, and his dialogue is both more dense with jokes and generally more clever this time around. Although too many of his lines are simply empty pop culture references, Deadpool 2 is a bit less sophomoric than its predecessor and as such a lot funnier. Although much of this does come from Deadpool's amoral quipping, just as much comes from how others react to him - like before, nearly everyone he meets is annoyed by him to some capacity, and this leads to some especially sharp banter. Furthermore, this sequel heavily expands on Deadpool's disregard for the fourth wall, and while his constant meta-references are surreal enough on their own, they're made all the more enjoyable by the fact that nobody else ever addresses them.
All of this is a refreshing change of pace from the first film, which was much more reliant on sex jokes, toilet humour, and swear words. There's a freewheeling absurdity to Deadpool 2 which perfectly matches its protagonist's irreverent behaviour, expressed through a ceaseless barrage of silly incidental gags as well as through the various rambunctious twists in plot, and all of this is accompanied by a thrilling willingness to go dark with its humour. Action scenes consist heavily of graphic, stylized violence, characters die in gruesomely comic ways, and the gags regularly eschew any notion of tastefulness, for better and for worse. Certainly, I could understand some people being uncomfortable with the nature of certain gags here, especially as regards sexuality and death, but at the same time these gags are at best very clever and at worst at least contribute to the irreverent tone.
In truth, it's the efforts at sentimentality which are Deadpool 2's biggest weakness. Deadpool, Cable, and Russell all carry some degree of melancholy with them, and the film tries its hardest to take those seriously while still making jokes at their expense. It doesn't really work, and the film's most ostensibly serious moments are largely perfunctory and trite, and tend to be undercut by jokes anyway. To the extent that there is a kernel of something more moving underneath all the snark, it's not very complex and generally suffers from certain key character relationships being underdeveloped, which in turn makes it feel even more out-of-place in such an irreverent movie. Clearly these attempted emotional beats aren't all that important, and even considering that they're often mere setup for more gags, they still get in the way of the humour a little too often.
The film initially sets up Cable as the main antagonist and Russell as more of a sidekick, but both have character traits which complicate these relationships. Cable has returned in order to prevent the death of his family, whereas Russell has severe anger issues. Both of these factors are fairly effective at adding some depth to these two characters, and Cable in particular is surprisingly one of the franchise's more sympathetic antagonists. Newcomer Domino is a mutant with so-called "luck powers," which are exactly what they sound like, and immediately establishes herself as the most charismatic of the cast, as her good fortune allows for an effortless air confidence, but despite some revelations in the back half, she's also the least complex, clearly just being along for the ride. Also, Deadpool's motivated by a dead girlfriend, but this deepens him less than you'd think.
Bringing David Leitch on as director leads to perhaps the film's biggest improvement, which is the action scenes. Given more money than the first film's Tim Miller, he continues to demonstrate a strong eye for hard-hitting, energetic action, here trading the crunchy intensity of Atomic Blonde for something much more cartoonish but no less violent and brutal. Deadpool 2 is gory and profane, consistently merging ultraviolence with humour, and while Deadpool's homicidal glee might prove polarizing, those interested in such a disreputable bloodbath will find much to enjoy here. The action is also simply faster-paced, with constant physical movement accompanying the gags, in comparison to the stop-start pace of the first film, and on top of that this sequel offers several terrific setpieces, with one on an armored truck convoy being the new action sequence to beat this year.
Deadpool 2 is a wackier, snappier, and altogether more satisfying sequel to 2016's surprise hit which eschews the formulaic trappings of its predecessor for something which, while still comprised of many cliches, barrels through them without a care in the world, firing off so many jokes that sometimes it flounders with weak pop culture references just to fill the dead air. Certainly, something this noisy and amoral isn't for everyone, but the action is consistently strong, the gags land more often than not, and the new cast of characters is uniformly delightful. If the first Deadpool was a trial run, the sequel is the real deal, delivering on the promise of its predecessor for something which, if still not as subversive as it pretends to be, is nonetheless a highly entertaining farce which stands out within the overcrowded superhero film landscape.
7/10
+ Tops its predecessor in wit, absurdity, and sheer volume of jokes.
+ Busy narrative distracts from its own cliches.
+ Surprisingly strong villain in Cable.
+ Satisfying cartoon ultraviolence and creative action set pieces.
- Too many pop culture references.
- The few sincere emotional beats are perfunctory.
- Probably not as subversive as it thinks it is.
- If you didn't like the first film's self-referential attitude, this won't change your mind.
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