Let me start this review by saying it is a damn shame that Deadpool 2 had to come out so close to Infinity War. Regardless of how good of a movie Deadpool 2 is—and, spoiler for this review, it’s really good—it never had a chance at being a standout compared to the cultural giant that Marvel’s 10 year payoff event was going to be. And that’s a shame, because Deadpool 2 is just the palette cleanser we need after seeing the latest Avengers. The two movies are absolutely symbiotic to each other, and I hope that in a few years fans will be able to look back on 2018 and realize just how lucky we are to receive such incredible comic book properties all at once.
The first part of this review will be spoiler-free, so read on without trepidation. I will let you know when I get into spoilers for the movie in case you haven’t seen it yet.
Deadpool 2 is a blast of a movie. By introducing new characters like Domino and Cable while maintaining the titular character’s humor and action throughout the movie, director David Leitch is able to create a narrative that holds tons of homage to the comics while still being inclusive to the character’s new fans. Zazie Beets effectively silences all of her casting’s haters by delivering a performance that brings Domino to life, and Josh Brolin continues his summer box office dominance with a stellar performance as Cable, the character I was most concerned about translating to film. But while the supporting cast and co-stars deliver whole-heartedly, I want to focus on the main man himself. Ryan Reynolds was born to play Wade Wilson, and his hand in practically every part of the filmmaking process—directing, writing, producing—proves his unbelievable talent as well as his devotion to making this project work. He deserves every ounce of praise fans can give him, especially because he was able to do with Deadpool what few comic book writers are able to do: not make him annoying.
I love Deadpool. I love his story, his humor, his craziness, just his character in general. But I can also acknowledge that Deadpool is probably one of the most frequently mishandled characters in all of comics. Depending on the writer, Deadpool can devolve into nothing more than “lul so random” character used as an excuse for obscene humor and over-the-top antics. And while the movie has plenty of both, it also touches on something that few writers have been able to tap into (or have simply not cared to try), and that’s his potential depth. Often, comic fans forget that much of what makes Deadpool Deadpool is reactionary to his own personal tragedy. His fourth-wall breaking? An effect of his constant pain driving him insane to the point of self-awareness. His absurdist humor? A coping skill for having one of the most gruesome backstories in comics. This move focuses on Deadpool being more than just a meme; Ryan Reynolds and David Leitch have created a story around Deadpool being broken as well as hilarious, and it’s tough work to toe that kind of line at all, let alone to do it so flawlessly.
The movie itself is just plain fun. It has insane action sequences, excellent CGI effects when necessary, and hilarious one-liners and visuals that keep the audience laughing. Some of the jokes will end up dating the movie significantly down the road, but the writers have given us enough laughs for comic book fans and casual movie goers alike to enjoy the movie in its entirety. Fans of Deadpool and X-Men comics will especially appreciate many of the quicker jokes and references to the source material, and that kind of homage is always appreciated. The movie is not family-friendly in the slightest, but anyone who knew anything about the original Deadpool shouldn’t be surprised by that.
HEY FRIENDS, SPOILERS BELOW! SKIP TO THE LAST PARAGRAPH AFTER SOME MORE BOLD WORDS IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN IT YET!
There were a lot of smaller things about the movie that help paint a more complete picture of Deadpool than fans are used to seeing. An underrated moment was in the beginning when Deadpool completes the contract on the human trafficker suit guy. As soon as the bad guy realizes that it’s Deadpool on the phone, he caves and offers him a ridiculous amount of money in desperation to avoid being killed. For me, this helps establish an oft-forgotten dimension to Wade’s character in the comics: he’s a badass. When Deadpool shows up to collect a contract, it changes everything. Even Taskmaster canonically fears Deadpool because of his recklessness. As a Deadpool fan, it felt good to see the character get the respect he deserves when he’s not hanging out with some of the strongest X-Men members around.
I also liked the comic book parallels they made work with Vanessa representing Death and Deadpool’s struggle to be with her. It initially felt kind of cheap killing her, but they were able to maintain the importance of the relationship to Wade’s character throughout the movie and made it feel real rather than a contrived plot device. The supporting cast was excellent as I have already said, although the writing continued the trend of making Colossus a hyperbolic counterpart to Deadpool’s nonsensical character, making the character feel somewhat under-utilized.
OK, SPOILERS OVER! CONTINUE READING, FRIENDS!
Before this movie, if someone had asked me where to go to get a feel for Deadpool, I would have pointed them in the direction of Joe Kelly’s and Gerry Duggan’s runs on the character. Now, I would still point them toward those comics, but I would also list Deadpool 2 as an essential source.
I said this about the first Deadpool, and it remains true of this one: Deadpool is the easiest money that Fox has made in a long time. It was fueled by society’s major media outlet (the Internet, primarily Reddit), using one of Hollywood’s darlings (Ryan Reynolds), cashing in on the current biggest cash cow in entertainment (superhero movies), and catering to the cultural comedic trend of off-color humor and existential nihilism in the form of the absurd (see Rick and Morty type of humor). And I think that’s what makes Deadpool 1 and 2 such an impressive success for me. They could have phoned it in. Deadpool and Reynolds have enough of a comic book and Internet following to perform well at the box office regardless of the movie’s actual quality. After years of tireless work to get it made, Ryan Reynolds had every right to take the day off with these movies, but he didn’t. He and the rest of the production team cared about creating a great narrative because they cared about the character, and in a world of shameless cash-grabs and quick money tickets (cough-Han Solo-cough) it’s really refreshing to see a Hollywood team actually care about its product. It might not match up in scale or significance to Infinity War, but I think it’s ultimately OK. We don’t need Infinity War every time. Maybe with all that’s going on in the world, the main thing we need is what Deadpool offers.
A reason to laugh.
