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DEADPOOL 2
Director: David Leitch Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Josh Brolin, Julian Dennison, Zazie Beetz, Morena Baccarin, T.J. Miller, Karan Soni, Leslie Uggams, Brianna Hildebrand, Bill Skarsgård, Terry Crewes, Rob Delaney, Lewis Tan, Eddie Marsan, the voice of Stefan Kapicic MPAA
Rating: Running Time: 1:59 Release Date: 5/18/18 |
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Review by Mark Dujsik | May 17, 2018 With Deadpool 2, it has become clearer that the filmmakers don't know what to do with their eponymous antihero. Here, we get yet another familiar superhero story told with a tone that seems to assume that simply joking about the story's familiarity is enough to make it different. We also get a superhero who's alternately an unapologetic, irredeemable a-hole and a decent guy with a good heart who wants to do the right thing. These inconsistencies of story, tone, and character have solidified in this sequel, and it's enough to make one wonder if Deadpool, the masked smart-ass with pistols and swords, is even suited for the current climate of superhero movies. Like its predecessor, the sequel contains moments in which the guy provides a respite from the cookie-cutter molds of superhero stories. Those moments, though, have little to nothing to do with the plot, which gives us a tougher villain and two, interconnected redemption arcs for Deadpool. For an antihero who's constantly touted as a rebel within the world of these stories, he sure does seem to find himself following the well-charted path of what we expect from comic book-inspired movies. With his origin story out of the way, Deadpool and his alter ego Wade Wilson, played again by Ryan Reynolds, are trying to figure out what they want from this superhero-normal guy dynamic. Deadpool has gone international, taking out a series of bad guys across the globe in a montage of bloody carnage. Wade and his girlfriend Vanessa (Morena Baccarin) have moved in together and have decided to have a baby. That's when a group of thugs from Deadpool's world barge into the couple's apartment and shoot Vanessa dead. The screenplay by Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick, and Reynolds simultaneously want us to take this development seriously—giving us multiple scenes of Wade trying to reunite with Vanessa in the afterlife—and to laugh at it—giving us a James Bond-like credit sequence that calls the screenwriters "the real villains," after offering a series of tongue-in-cheek statements of disbelief about what has transpired. There are no jokes, obviously, about the fact that the conceit of a murdered woman serving as the impetus for a hero's change is about as tired (and mildly sexist) as you can get. We're two movies into this character's adventures, and it already has become apparent that Deadpool only deals in the easy jokes. The plot has Cable (Josh Brolin), a mercenary from the future, traveling into the past to kill a genocidal mutant before he develops a taste for murder and, later, kills Cable's family. The mutant in question is Russell (Julian Dennison), a fire-controlling orphan living in an abusive home for mutants. While training to become one of the X-Men with Colossus (voice of Stefan Kapicic) and Negasonic Teenage Warhead (Brianna Hildebrand), Deadpool takes a bit of a liking to the kid. When Cable comes calling for blood, Deadpool decides to kind of, sort of protect Russell, when he isn't feeling suicidal over his loss (The in-joke here is that a jealous Deadpool wants to one-up the death of another famous mutant in that superhero's last film, which is pretty amusing). This story gives us exactly what we'd expect from it, with bone-breaking fights, lots of action setpieces, and a plethora of new characters tagging along for the ride. The only difference, of course, is that Deadpool provides a running commentary, a few asides, and plenty of pop-culture references (which are more current than the previous movie, at least) throughout the course of the whole thing. The jokes are of the hit-and-miss variety, which is to be expected, especially since the gimmick basically amounts to Deadpool throwing anything and everything at the wall and hoping that it sticks (At times, even his throwaways are inconsistent, chiding one mutant for "cultural appropriation" and then scolding Cable for being a racist for killing the guy). The movie's funnier bits have an almost episodic feel to them, whether it's Deadpool trying to change his ways by becoming an X-Men trainee (We learn that the more recognizable mutants are in hiding from his shenanigans) or forming a new team of his own. That latter sequence is the movie's funniest, featuring a variety of cameos (including a blink-and-you'll-miss-it one from an uncredited movie star), as well as a punch line that's exactly what one would expect from a superhero team that includes a member with absolutely no superpowers. One character who sticks around a bit longer is Domino (Zazie Beetz), whose superpower is simply luck. The action sequence involving her are rather clever in orchestrating coincidences and conveniences for her. Such bits do more to dismantle the clichés and contrivances of superhero stories than any of Deadpool's one-liners and fourth-wall-breaking comments. There's little that's genuinely daring or subversive in Deadpool 2 (A mid-credit sequence at the end is an inspired exception, but well, the movie's already finished by that point). It's simply more surface-level joking and poking. Copyright © 2018 by Mark Dujsik. All rights reserved. |
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(for
strong violence and language throughout, sexual references and brief
drug material)
