THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
After the success of the superhero comedy Deadpool, audiences quickly wondered what could get more raucous than that. I replied with an easy answer, a sequel.
PLOT
Deadpool 2 follows Wade Wilson continue his mercenary work with his mutation of advanced healing that fights his cancer. His happiness is halted once again when his girlfriend Vanessa (Morena Baccarin) is killed from a target he couldn’t kill before. After he does kill him, he goes through suicidal depression as he blames himself for what happened, in which causes Colossus to successfully recruit him into the X-Men. Wade only chooses to join as he believes Vanessa would’ve wanted him to give it a chance. As a trainee, he joins Colossus and Negasonic Teenage Warhead (Brianna Hildebrand) to apprehend a young mutant named Russell Collins, who gives himself the nickname ‘Firefist’ due to his power of pyrokinesis. He acts out at an orphanage owned by Essex Corporation, which is apparently labeled a re education center for mutants. He chooses to act out due to the abuse he was being put through in his time there. When Wade realizes this, he chooses to retaliate on his behalf by killing one of the guards. Because of breaking the number one X-Man rule to not ever kill, Colossus restrains him and has him arrested with the boy. Both are sent to the ‘Ice Box’, a mutant prison where each prisoner wears collar to have their powers suppressed. Knowing that he can’t protect Russell without his powers, Wade chooses to distance himself from him. However, his actions as a protector resume when a man from the future known as Cable comes back in time to kill the boy. He has a cybernetic arm and desires to kill him to prevent a future Firefist from killing his family. As Wade intervenes and drives him out of the prison (due to getting his collar broken), he still chooses to deny his care for the boy who sadly overhears. Once he got free from the prison, he plans to save him from Cable by recruiting his own team of mutants known as ‘X Force’ to better the odds. The group included: Domino who claims to be super lucky, Bedlam (Terry Crews) who can distort electrical fields, an invisible man known as the ‘Vanisher’ (Brad Pitt), An extraterrestrial from Mojo World named Shatterstar (Lewis Tan) who claims to be better at everything, Zeitgeist (Bill Skarsgard) who spits acidic vomit and Peter, who has no powers and joined to have fun. The plan is to free Russell during a prison transfer before Cable could get to him, but when they begin their launch via parachute, everyone in Deadpool’s team except Domino survive. As they fight Cable, Russell breaks out on his own and releases a fellow inmate who agrees to befriend him and kill the Headmaster that abused him, the Juggernaut. The self proclaimed unstoppable villain destroys the convoy and chooses to slow Deadpool down by literally ripping him in half, separating him from his legs. Domino takes him to grow back a new set and Weasel admits that the time traveler forced him to spill the beans on the plan. Cable finds him and asks for his help to prevent the boy from killing the Headmaster because that will start his legacy as a serial killer, which will eventually kill his family in the future. Wade agrees to help under the condition to have the opportunity of talking Russell down, in hopes to prevent him from dying too. Dopinder drops off both men and Domino at the orphanage, in hopes to join in on the action, but backs off once he sees Juggernaut. Although Deadpool gets overpowered by him, he gets backup by Colossus, NTW and her girlfriend Yukio (Shioli Kutsuna) who has electrokonesis. While they deal with the team’s common rival, Domino rescues the fellow orphans as she was once tortured in the same orphanage in her childhood. When Deadpool fails to convince Russell to spare the Headmaster, Cable tends to shoot him, but the merc takes the bullet while wearing the Ice Box collar. He almost joins Vanesa in the afterlife, but that is prevented when Cable changes the past by using his last charge of his time travel device to shield him from the bullet with his skee ball token. Seeing Wade willing to sacrifice himself gives Russell the change of heart needed to prevent him from turning evil, which saves Cable’s future family. The X Force leave the orphanage after Dopinder runs over the Headmaster, while NTW and Yukio take the orphans to the School for Gifted Youngsters. The film ends in a shocking mid credit sequence showing Cable’s device get repaired by Yukio and NTW, but Deadpool uses it for himself by not only saving Vanessa, but also Peter and choosing to kill Deadpool from X-Men Origins Wolverine and actor Ryan Reynolds after finished reading the script to Green Lantern.
THOUGHTS
I loved the first film just as much as everyone else when it came out, so I was easily onboard with whatever the sequel was gonna bring. This was definitely worth the time as Director David Leitch ups the ante by giving clever meta comedy and wilder action sequences. When you're not thinking about the similarity between Frozen and Yentl, you're getting pumped up with dope choreographed fights like the Ice Box fight, the convoy chase and the orphanage showdown. Considering that the first one didn't hesitate dissing Reynolds himself, it was not surprising to see it roast Logan, Batman v Superman, Interview with the Vampire and The Passion of the Christ in less than nine minutes, only to later roast Rob Liefeld over an hour later, co creator of Deadpool. Even the extra jokes you get in the 'Super Duper Cut' are worth the time. Between all the laughs and mayhem we ensue, this movie still has as much of a heart as its predecessor. The lessons that we learn here are: When we get second chances, we have to keep the pace going by proving we deserve it. If you grew up with hate, pass only love in return and if you're gonna break rules, make sure they're with good intentions. You get all of this through our hilarious titular lead. Reynolds is indeed funnier than before as the infamous merc with the mouth, yet shows to have a bigger heart than before, proving how much he's changed overtime. Considering that he was planning to have children of his own before Vanessa originally died, he couldn't help himself trying to protect Russell. Aside from that, he saw himself in his shoes and related to the abuse he was going through, refusing to let him go through anymore pain. Seeing him put himself on the line for him proves that no matter how bad the world can around be, there will always be someone that cares about you. And since he saved his girl via time travel, I'm pretty sure they'll name their kid Marty (from Back to the Future) if it's a boy instead of their girl Cher. Of all the many surprises, the biggest one had to be the reveal of Juggernaut being Russell's ally. Aside from Colossus, the best of the visuals are on this character for being gigantic as originally depicted in the comics, rather than being the size of an average human in The Last Stand. The feeling of being surprised only escalated when Reynolds admitted to providing his voice for the violent figure, who in the long run did a great sound sounding as grizzled as I imagined him to be. As said before, Reynolds is a national treasure as the titular lead, but still leaves behind a great supporting cast. Stefan Kapicic still leaves a good impression when voicing the virtuous and respectable Colossus because this time, he gets his own set of growth by accepting that rules are meant to be broken because it implies that it is okay to think for yourself rather than blindly obeying. He wants Wade to be a better hero than he already is, but finally accepts he is who he is and ain't gonna change. He stuck with the rules as an X-Man because it was his way to keep himself in check but once Juggernaut entered the room, he realized that holding back was not gonna get the job done. And with that, you get the dopest CGI fight of the year, unless you want to debate and say Infinity War. Although Wade's clique that is TJ Miller's Weasel, Leslie Uggams' Blind Al and Karan Soni's Dopinder are somewhat sidelined to make room for the new characters, they still have enough time to shine with their humor. Weasel still made laugh for being a resourceful coward that had enough quips to keep up with Wade. I mean I had a hard time keeping a straight face when he made fun of his baby legs that were replacing the severed. Al was still a treat for still being just as cynical as before whenever she chooses to share his heart. Dopinder really made the best of it in comparison to the other two because he's trying to break from his meek shell and wants to be aggressive as his friend Wade. While being a killer is not the best calling, you can't help but be happy for him that he is making his mark. Going into the new characters, Julian Dennison was definitely another bright spot in the role of Firefist. His temper understandably comes from the years of neglect he's consumed in his young life, which does not put him in the path of a hero he aspires to be. Since he originally didn't understand that Wade was emotionally distant, it only made him more vengeful. Although he messes up by aligning with Juggernaut, seeing him give up all the hatred after Wade's sacrifice is a relief because it shows that our mistakes do not make us bound to be evil. Zazie Beetz was straight up hilarious as Domino for being the most cocky due to the oddest power possible, being lucky. The confidence she has with everything going her way is mind boggling yet still funny. It was even pretty neat to see things come full circle as she saves the orphans from similar trauma she grew up with. When Cable was announced for the sequel during the post credit scene of the first film, I knew someone with the right caliber would take on the role. Although I was expecting between Dolph Lundgren and Keira Knightley, it was a better choice to pick the Mad Titan himself, that is Josh Brolin. Brolin was overall great at playing the character as steady and determined to get what he wants. It is easy to be intimidated by him because he is technically the polar opposite of Deadpool, he is mostly serious and lacks a sense of humor. Due to originally losing his family, he felt that no one can be redeemed for the sins they make. But seeing Wade make Russell change via his sacrifice, he understood that change is possible for anyone and everyone. He chose to save Wade because he accepted that he had a bigger heart than him. Considering that he is now stuck in the present, I can imagine they're gonna have a lot of fun taking out the next set of bad guys that come their way. I also can't be the only one who quickly adored Rob Delaney for making Peter just as down to earth as Dopinder is. He joined a rescue mission for fun and doesn't even have powers. I find that pretty badass. Since Deadpool saved him of all people from dying, I'm pretty sure he's got a lot more adventures on his way, with or without super powered figures by his side. And lastly, I don't want to come off like I'm overrating Eddie Marsan, but even he got my attention as the Headmaster. In his given time, he does come off in the typecast vile figure who prefers to have the world in his fashion rather than equality. That does make it easy for us to be satisfied when he dies, but he is still somewhat intimidating for remaining vile to every mutant kid in his orphanage. Since he was part of Essex Corporation, it's clear that he was satisfying his superiors with his methods and lucky for us, his reign of terror ended before it could get any worse. While I make it clear that this movie is always gonna fun to check out, it doesn’t excuse some issues I had when re watching, hence making the first one superior. For example, I’ve made it clear multiple times on my disgust of continuity errors, so I was pretty livid on how the stove controls didn’t match between takes of the opening. And I was laughing of how Deadpool didn’t practice the name of his Hong Kong target before, but why would he travel without knowing the name? Even if he got down the whereabouts, he could’ve missed his target and not even know it. And yeah, I was surprised to see him do some pole dancing, but how were people in the front row surprised as well? Even if the lights were dimmed, they have to recognize that a costumed figure is on the dance floor instead of a stripper. I know we need to see him emotionally crippled when Vanessa dies, but why didn’t he take the fight outside the apartment? He knows he can recover and he’s obviously stronger, so had he done that, he could’ve taken down the last target and his lady would’ve survived. I know it’s in Colossus’ nature to go over a handbook of rules with Deadpool, but is the first rule really introduced midway into the book? I only ask because he literally opens it midway. If he’s trying to get to the other rules he deems essential, he should’ve just gave it to him and leave bookmarks. He might as well do that if he ain’t gonna memorize it. I know Russell’s tantrum gets the second act going, but why does the X-Men? They’re literally the only ones willing to talk to him because they’re just like him. That’s like turning down a raise when you need the money, it’s stupid. With that being said, he shouldn’t be complaining that no one’s willing to step up for him when the X-Men we’re trying to calm him down. I know we need more foreshadowing for Wade’s takeout sacrifice, but this is not a clever way to have it both ways. The sympathy easily kicks in whenever we see Wade’s skee ball token, but how did he sneak that in? That looks like something he’d put in one of his pockets, so I don’t think he’d shove it up his ass like Russell does with his prison shiv. Seeing the collars that restrain mutant powers is an interesting plot device, but why the hell does the Headmaster not have some of those? I don’t want to root for the villains but if he’s so determined to eliminate mutants from society, he should be saving up on that shit. I was pretty confused on how Wade returned to Weasel’s without being tracked down by authorities, but why does Cable go back to his hotel room? He’s a one man army from the future and knows the prison’s weaknesses. If he really wanted to kill Russell so bad, he should’ve tried again before the transfer. I can admit that the public breakout chase if the best action sequence of the whole movie, but it really doesn’t any sense. Like why would dangerous mutants like Juggernaut be transferred through a public area? That is like the worst incognito possible. And why weren’t the containers bulletproof? Even if you don’t care whether the prisoners live or die, your main concern is to prevent them escaping. Whoever designed those containers has to be lucky no one broke out for so long. On top of that, where were the X-Men during that whole set of shenanigans? The studio definitely afforded them this time and it’s not like they would avoid saving people, so it’s odd that not at least Colossus showed ho during all of that. Other than that, this movie is still a blast. In short, Deadpool 2 is a dope sequel for being just as funny while nailing the evolution of its lead character in between the improved action sequences. If you enjoyed the first one, then there is no reason to not see this too.
If you or someone you know is struggling with depression or thoughts of suicide, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.
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