We start the movie towards the end and flashback to early events and work our way to the start of the film. Exactly like the first one.
We get a montage of Deadpool contract killing around the World as he savagely kills people and delivers funny one liners. Exactly like the first one where he is searching for the villain.
We get a pretty fun “romantic” scene between Wade and his girlfriend/wife? I honestly forget if they go married last movie.
We enjoy Dopinder and Deadpool having witty banter in the cab.
We get a hilarious opening credits scene again that really had my audience cracking up.
We then watch a generic superhero story that is so clichéd and corny that if it wasn’t for a barrage of jokes and violence it might actually be as bad as Fantastic Four or Green Lantern. I honestly don’t know if I’m just an idiot missing out on the meta-joke or what? Both Deadpool and Deadpool 2‘s plots are really paper thing and laughably bad. For a movie that prides itself on the takedown of every other superhero franchise it certainly doesn’t elevate the storytelling. Then again, nobody is going to a Deadpool movie for the story or plot.
Colossus and Megasonic Teenager show up to the final battle to help again.
The movie works its way through this entire story with an ending just as cheesy and earnest as the first that even Captain America rolled his eyes.
But here is the thing. None of those complaints matter because all the flaws are masked literally and figuratively by the Deadpool. This franchise, much like its main character, knows it can’t be killed and that nothing can hurt it. You can shoot it, stab it, mock it, give it a bad review, rip it in half, or drown it but it will take a moment to heal then come right back at you with a joke that lights you up and you forget that 10 minutes ago you were checking your phone for how much longer this movie could be. All the credit in the World goes to Ryan Reynolds for the level of charm that simply destroys the typical kind of criticism this movie would receive. It is really hard to loathe a movie that will take a few minutes to discuss the artistry of “Do You Want To Build A Snowman” from FROZEN or dedicate 3 separate gags to dubstep music.
This movie isn’t on Infinity War level of spoilers but I don’t want to ruin any of the cameos or gags for you guys. I really didn’t know any of them going in and if somebody told me about 2 of them, there is no chance it would’ve been as funny so try and stay away from spoilers. We all know that Rob Delaney makes an appearance as Peter and I can assure you that the trailers are only scratching the surface of how amusing it is to see that character in action.
Zazie Beetz as Domino and Josh Brolin as Cable are the two main additions. Cable is a time traveling soldier who comes to our time to kill Russell (a kid) which sets off the generic plot of the movie. He is perfectly serviceable as the straight man and he even comes with a movie prop and 10 second flashback so you can learn really early on he’s probably a nice guy. Domino on the other hand is an actual breath of fresh air. Her super power is that she is lucky. There is a great exchange about whether or not luck is a super power but I can confirm that it is. The sequences where Domino is involved and every single action she is part of has a touch of luck were the most crowd pleasing moments of the film. Russell, who Cable is trying to kill because he grows up and destroys some important things in the future, is played by Julian Dennison from “Hunt For The Wilderpeople” which is hilarious if you haven’t seen it. Dennison has comedic chops and can hold his own in any comedy situation but is never really allowed to shine in this movie and I hope going forward they let him bring more humor with the role of Russell.
The action in the sequel was superior to the first movie and I assume that is 95% due to David Leitch (John Wick, Atomic Blonde) directing it. It is quick paced but you always have a sense of place and can tell what is happening which rarely happens in superhero movies due to the CGI slugfests they devolve into most of the time.
The movie clearly sets up X-Force with Cable, Domino, Deadpool, Russell, & Dopinder going off to do their own thing separate of the low level X-Men Colossus and Megasonic Teenager who had much smaller roles in this movie.
Deadpool 2 won me over for an hour and a half of the two hour run time. I laughed at a ton of jokes, really enjoyed the references, and some of the action sequences were a blast. I think the movie was too long (especially the end) and is not nearly as inspired as it pretends to be. It seems like they are going a different direction with the franchise and instead of Deadpool 3 they are just making X-Force in which hopefully they will bring something fresh to the genre they spoof. I don’t need to see this formula again, I’m good. The Deadpool character is now established to where he can really lift an ensemble movie and I am excited at the possibilities of that. If I were you, I’d see Deadpool 2 in a crowded theater one of the first two weekends. I don’t think when you’re on your couch in November the ‘Say Anything’ references will land without the shared audience experience.