Deadpool 2

Image credit: IMDb

I think it’s fair to say, right off the bat that, it would be next to impossible for the Deadpool sequel to surpass the success of its predecessor for the sheer fact that the first movie was so unexpected. The playful and vague marketing, the metafiction, and the singular, uninhibited protagonist spouting the opinions of the masses was all just so fresh and so bold and so fucking brilliant that there’s no way it could be topped.

Having said that, Deadpool 2 comes pretty damned close…

The film sees Wade Wilson, a.k.a. Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) punishing the wicked in his unique and violent Deadpool way, until the bad guys track him down at home and, spoiler alert, kill his baby momma (all before the opening credits). Sent into a depressive spiral of self-destruction Wade attempts to find meaning in his immortality with a brief stint as a trainee X-Man, which leads him to a troubled mutant teen (Julian Dennison). After a mission goes awry and lands him and Firefist in mutant jail, Wade soon discovers that there’s this more to this kid than he guessed, as a time-travelling cyber-dude (Josh Brolin) goes all Terminator on his ass with a mission to kill the kid and change the future. Armed with little more than a rag-tag force of superheroes, it’s a race against the clock as Deadpool tries to save the world and the kid at the same time.

Everything that we loved about the first movie is here and ramped up to 11! The fourth-wall breaks, the metafiction, the social commentary, the gore, and the general unashamed crudeness and badassery are all perfectly placed within the film to deliver the laughs, cringes, and pants-wetting that we’ve come to expect.

Where the film differs from its predecessor is in the family-oriented story. Deadpool’s solo status comes under fire (literally) as he starts to warm to the idea of working as a unit –in a very funny, unperceived, and round-about kind of way. The many fight sequences that ensure are both gratuitously violent and gory, while also being cringingly hilarious using everything at their disposal from CGI to the soundtrack to those memorable one-liners: “that’s so dark, are you sure you’re not from the DC universe?”

Image credit: Collider

Behind the action and the gore there is a heartwarming story and a nice train of character development that seems to be leading you one place, but then changes abruptly on drunken impulse, still leading you on for a good time. We are introduced to some pretty badass new characters and the performances are all brilliant from Zazie Beetz’s sauntering through death zones as Domino to Julian Dennison’s steady rise from panicked teen to bringer of the motherfuckin’ apocalypse.

However, the most satisfying part of the film for all the fans and apparently even Reynolds himself is the post-credit scene. Some old grievances are literally laid to rest with a vengeance so be sure to stay seated for that!

Director: David Leitch, 2018

Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Josh Brolin, Morena Baccarin, Julian Dennison, Zazie Beetz, T. J. Miller, Leslie Uggams, Karan Soli, Brianna Hildebrand, Eddie Marsan, Stefan Kapicic, Bill Skarsgard, and Brad Pitt