For Deadpool 2, the success of its predecessor brought nothing but excitement and high expectations for the future. It wasn’t perfect picture, but Deadpool managed to stand out in the very much saturated field of comic book movies by being thoroughly entertaining and remaining authentic in a way that no one thought possible. Because of all the attention and love it received, you know they were going to have to outdo themselves somehow with this sequel.
With enemies from all sides coming for him, Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) meets what looks to be his greatest challenge yet. In order to combat this, the foul-mouthed superhero vows to fight back and attempts to put a team together that mirrors the group of super-mutants that he so desperately wants to be a part of. Getting a team together could assist our protagonist in his quest to defeat his adversaries, but he might come to find that the greatest weapon he has at his disposal is something that he carried with him all along.
Much like the first movie, Deadpool 2 relies on references and easter eggs to help entertain. That was to be expected and it still works pretty well, but they make sure to do more than that in order to keep it fresh. Instead of just going back and using the predictable tropes and jokes, they turn it up several notches and aren’t even attempting to ignore things that are taking place outside of the movie world that he exists in. This turned out to be a pleasant surprise and it makes the movie even more surreal.
This time around, they go off and seemingly do whatever it is they want to do over the course of its run time. I’m sure there are probably things they took out, but at no point does it ever feel like they’re holding back as they go out of their way to make sure that it at least feel like no one and nothing was safe when it came to who and what they targeted. For those of us who know at least a little bit about the character of Deadpool, this is what you would expect to some degree. However, it even goes farther than most would anticipate.
As much as I enjoyed this portion of the film, there were a couple of instances where I began to believe that they might be beginning to ride this stuff a little too hard. As they continued to go back to this part of the comedy, I started to worry that it might get a little worn out and lose a bit of its punch. Thankfully, that didn’t really happen and it ends up working overall since they were able to consistently find new ways to handle it all whenever they needed to.
What I can complain about are the parts of the opening act that are somewhat slower than they needed to be and a certain segment of the ending that goes on longer than it should have. For me, the opening act felt as if it was extended a bit more than it needed to be. They’re obviously trying to set up the rest of the movie, but it just seems to run a little long. That’s partially due to them finding a way to actually get Deadpool involved with the primary story since they have to get things to mesh well enough.
As far as the ending, saying that it extends itself would be an understatement. Unlike the opening act, there was no reason for this specific segment during the conclusion to drag as much as it did. I guess they wanted to play it for laughs, but it turns into a running joke that never actually changes any of what we’re watching. It certainly didn’t add anything and it could have done damage to the joke itself had it run any longer.
Outside of those two issues, Deadpool 2 is as fun as I could have hoped it would be. As expected, they wanted to keep the style and tone of the original while also adding to what was already established. When you watch it, you’ll see that they were able to accomplish that overall, and made it even better in some ways. That’s usually what you want in a sequel anyway. There’s no need to be lazy and resorting to simply doing the exact same thing while hoping no one notices.
When comparing this to the previous one, it’s difficult to say which is actually superior. My opinion on which is better might change after watching both again, but as of this moment, I’ll say that I’ll give the sequel a slight edge due to it being better structurally. Either way, it’s really close and both provide the same high level of amusement in the end.
And speaking of endings, I need to point out just how good the scene during the end credits is. You figure they’re going to have these in comic book movies now, but the one we get here is one of the absolute best I’ve ever seen in any movie from any genre. It’s everything you would probably expect from a Deadpool movie and really wonderfully illustrates why these movies will likely remain very popular for quite some time.
Rating: R
Director: David Leitch
Cast:
Ryan Reynolds
Josh Brolin
Morena Baccarin
Julian Dennison
Zazie Beetz
T.J. Miller
Brianna Hildebrand
Jack Kesy
Film Length: 120 minutes
Release Date: May 18, 2018
Distributor: 20th Century Fox