Film review by Claire Durrant of Deadpool 2, the Marvel comic based action film about the wise-cracking, potty mouthed superhero. Starring Ryan Reynolds and Josh Brolin.

Action/Adventure/Fantasy

 

 

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Synopsis

After years of being a lone wolf mercenary, Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) brings together a team of mutants to help stop the time traveling Cable (Josh Brolin) from murdering child mutant Russell (Julian Dennison.)

Review by Clare Durrant

It could be argued that the success of Deadpool as a franchise is due to the star quality of Ryan Reynolds. Mr Reynolds has enough charm and charisma to reduce the strongest man to a giddy schoolgirl. We root for this fella to succeed, and rightly so.  

The marketing for the sequel has also been hugely successful, from the initial Bob Ross teaser trailer to Reynolds constant use of social media. The team definitely knew how to hype the sequel up. Did the maximum effort of the marketing team match the success of the film? Well the general consensus is that the sequel is on a par with the first, if not better.

What Deadpool 2 does better than the first is to add an emotional core to the title character, which gives the film a touch more gravitas. The sequel also brings in new characters, such as the lucky Domino (Zazie Beetz) and Cable (Brolin – who is having quite a good year) and they act brilliantly against Reynolds both on the camera and behind it on press tours.

The action scenes are also better choreographed which is due to the stuntman turned director, David Leitchpreviously, working on John Wick (2014) and Atomic Blonde (2017). My returning favourite character, the CGI Colossus (voiced by Stefan Kapičić) also gets a lot of screen time, which means I get to enjoy more quips with Deadpool.

All this is great but, however, I will say that I believe the first one is better than its sequel, due to one important aspect – the comedy. The original film simply made me laugh more, and felt so much more like a passionate project. 

The problem with Deadpool 2 is that because they try to cram so much in, I feel the writers often confuse pop culture references as a punchline for a joke. Sometimes these reference fail to make sense, for instance in the car chase scene, in which Cable is trying to kill Russell and Deadpool is trying to save a kid. Deadpool refers to Cable as “John Connor.”

Funny, right? Terminator 2 reference, right?! Wouldn’t the joke make more sense if Deadpool called Cable ‘Robert Patrick’ since in both scenarios they are time travelling killing machines. That’s lazy writing for you, Deadpool 2 writers!

Despite my nitpicking, Deadpool 2 is still a successful comedic film and when the jokes land, they are uproariously funny. The briefness of the X Force team; Deadpool getting a new pair of legs; and a great use of the 9 to 5 song are just some of the highlights. I will also admit that a particular group of cameos and imagining that every superhero’s mother is called Martha got a good chuckle out of me.

The word is that two scenes from the film were so dark that they were cut; one about Hitler, the other about Disney. Now, from trying to sleuth on the internet to what these jokes could have been, I can only assume that these two jokes were connected in some way. A potential dig at Walt being Anti-Semitic and a Nazi sympathiser, perhaps?

With Disney and 20th Century Fox starting to merge, I understand why the companies forced the jokes to be cut. However, the offensively dark humour would have given Deadpool 2 the levity it needed. I don’t need another reference to the Green Lantern, Avengers or Wolverine, I wanted bigger jokes on a wider scale.

Deadpool 2 will of course be successful, as Reynolds and his mercenary alter-ego will always have die hard fans, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it overtakes Avengers: Infinity War‘s box office gross.

With an X Force film already confirmed, I’m sure it won’t be long before the third Deadpool instalment is also announced in the upcoming days. I hope the writers branch out more with the jokes, as well as developing Cable more as a character.

My biggest concern thought is how strong a domineering voice Disney will have on Deadpool’s future. Deadpool had better enjoy his smokes while he still can.

Cast and Credits

Director: David Leitch. 1hr 59mins. (119mins). Marvel Entertainment/Maximum Effort/Twentieth Century Fox et al. (15).

Producers: Simon Kinberg, Ryan Reynolds, Lauren Shuler Donner.
Writers: Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick, Ryan Reynolds.
Camera: Jonathan Sela.
Music: Tyler Bates.
Sets: David Scheunemann.

Ryan Reynolds, Josh Brolin, Zazie Beetz, Morena Baccarin, T.J. Miller, Brianna Hildebrand, Julian Dennison, Leslie Uggams, Karan Soni, Stefan Kapičić.