Review by Curt Holman
20th Century Fox
As a character, Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool is a violent, foul-mouthed smartypants and bad role model who goes for the obvious joke too many times.
Nevertheless, it’s kind of nice to have him as a movie star.
With so many superhero films and TV shows being produced and crowding out other genres, Deadpool’s self-aware, satirical shtick proves quite welcome. In the trailer for Deadpool 2, he quips to an adversary, “So dark – you sure you’re not from the DC universe?” You can enjoy today’s seemingly inescapable superhero movies and still find them ripe for parody.
Like the original Deadpool, Deadpool 2 tries to have its chimichangas and eat them, too. It draws attention to and pokes fun at the clichés and absurdities of superhero films, especially but not exclusively the X-Men franchise, while ultimately embracing genre overall. We laugh at how preposterous Deadpool looks in his mask and red outfit, but are still expected to invest emotions in the Merc With the Mouth. Deadpool 2 particularly struggles to keep its balance as it ricochets between tones and extremes.
The first film earned an unprecedented fortune as an R-rated superhero movie, partly for the shock value of its raunchy jokes, grisly slapstick and incongruous song cues. Deadpool has such a strong first act — wildly creative credit sequence followed by outrageous, laugh-packed freeway shootout – that the remainder felt a little anticlimactic by comparison as it turned mercenary Wade Wilson into a superpowered, madcap antihero.
Deadpool 2 replaces original director Tim Miller with John Wick co-director David Leitch, and impressively avoids trying to repeat the plot and comedic set pieces of the first film. When it makes callbacks to previous jokes, it makes an effort to put a fresh spin on them.
I won’t spoil an early plot twist, save that it sets up stakes that feel too serious for a film with so many dick jokes to handle. After a montage of killing generic criminals in creative ways, Deadpool finds himself in a rut and ends up as a trainee of the X-Men, with Colossus (Stefan Kapičić) returning in an expanded role as a by-the-book do-gooder, the “good cop” to Deadpool’s “trigger-happy lunatic cop.”
On an early mission Deadpool, strikes up an unlikely friendship with Russell (Julian Dennison of Hunt for the Wilderpeople), a troubled young mutant using his fiery powers against Essex House, an orphanage that treats mutants with brutality. The film’s explanation of Essex House is barely longer than that description, leaving some of Russell’s and Deadpool’s motivations a little sketchy.
As Deadpool, never a nurturing personality, tries to bond with Russell, they find themselves in the crosshairs of Cable (Josh Brolin), a badass cyborg from the future with a vendetta. Brolin and Dennison make terrific foils for Reynolds’ sarcastic repartee, with Brolin serving as a growling straight man that suggests a combination of Tommy Lee Jones, Elmer Fudd and the Terminator. Dennison’s sharp-tongued insolence gets laughs while his emotional vulnerability humanizes the story.
Unwilling to play by the X-Men’s rules but overmatched by Cable and the other plot complications, Deadpool recruits a team of new mutants (no pun intended). Zazie Beetz stands out as the supernaturally lucky Domino (like Deadpool and Cable, a creation of Rob Liefeld). With the introduction of X-Force, Deadpool 2 feels increasingly like a superhero spoof, calling out obscure but established characters for their ridiculous powers.
But its humor largely comes from affection for the source material, like the best Deadpool comic books or the screwball stories of DC’s Ambush Bug. When a fan favorite from X-Men lore makes a surprise appearance, the filmmakers clearly want to please comic readers. Deadpool even cites some of the character’s most famous storylines.
Deadpool 2’s influences also include MacGruber and James Bond title sequences, among other things, but for every inspired gag, there’s at least one ill-advised foray into sentiment. After a point, Deadpool 2’s referential gags and the film’s reliance on 1980s pop ballads become predicable: It loses the element of surprise that was the first film’s secret weapon.
At nearly a full two hours, Deadpool 2 begins to play to diminishing returns, and you may find it exhausting and overly serious even though you’ll laugh consistently. The strain of structuring a feature film around such an irreverent character starts to show. Maybe, going forward, Deadpool would best belong in short subjects that could precede the latest superhero epic. It worked for Bugs Bunny.
Deadpool 2. Starring Ryan Reynolds, Josh Brolin. Directed by David Leitch. Rated R. 119 minutes.