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Review: ‘Deadpool 2’ Doubles Down on the R-rated Mayhem by Giving Moviegoers Two Mutant Mercenaries for the Price of One
May 17, 2018Ben MK
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We all know that in superhero movies, characters can never be counted on to really stay dead. But when one of your headliners is a mutant with a device that allows him to travel back and forth through time, is the term "high stakes" even in the vocabulary? In Deadpool 2, Ryan Reynolds reprises his role as the titular Merc with a Mouth. Although when we first meet him, he's suffered a devastating loss and isn't quite his usual wise-cracking, smart-ass self. Luckily, Deadpool's old pal Colossus (Stefan Kapicic) is there to literally pick up the pieces, bringing him back to the X-mansion in an attempt to try and get him out of his funk and back on his feet. Meanwhile, in the post-apocalyptic future, a mutant mercenary with a Winter Soldier arm — who goes by the name Cable (Josh Brolin) — has also suffered a devastating loss. But unlike Deadpool, Cable isn't one to wallow in his own misery. Instead, he wastes no time taking matters into his own hands. And like time travelers are wont to do, Cable sets a course for the present day, where he'll stop at nothing to put a bullet in the person responsible for the grief that has consumed him, even if that person happens to be a maladjusted teenager (Julian Dennison). Naturally, there's just one man standing in Cable's way. And when Deadpool learns of Cable's plan to undo the events of the future, he responds by assembling his own superhero team to counter the incoming threat. Enter Bedlam (Terry Crews), Zeitgeist (Bill Skarsgård), Shatterstar (Lewis Tan), Domino (Zazie Beetz) and Peter (Rob Delaney). Together, this motley crew are X-Force. But are they enough to stop the man who, in his other big Marvel movie, took on almost all of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's heroes without barely breaking a sweat? Sitting in the director's chair this time around is Atomic Blonde director David Leitch, who brings his flair for staging stylish action sequences to this followup. This being everyone's favorite fourth-wall breaking mercenary, though, it's of course all done with wink and a nod and a tongue-in-cheek twist, whether it's a montage of Deadpool taking out scores of bad guys set to Dolly Parton's "9 to 5," or a recurring gag that has Deadpool and Cable duking it out to the EDM beats of Skrillex (after Deadpool asks Cable if dubstep exists in the future). The result is everything you might expect from a blockbuster superhero sequel — more characters, bigger action set-pieces, and certainly more CGI spectacle — but at the same time, Deadpool remains as irreverent and as outlandish as ever. That said, the most surprising thing about Deadpool 2 isn't that it possesses a mass market appeal while also subverting the genre. No, the most surprising thing is that it even exists to begin with. After all, the original Deadpool was a labor of love for star Ryan Reynolds, and it came at a time when studios weren't fully sold on the premise of an R-rated superhero film. But now that the foul-mouthed cat is out of the bag, so to speak, it falls on Reynolds and his co-writers, Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, to prove that Deadpool is more than just a one-trick pony. Fortunately, they largely succeed. And only moviegoers still coming down from the high that is Avengers: Infinity War may be left somewhat wanting once the credits start to roll. Deadpool 2 releases May 18th, 2018 from 20th Century Fox. The film has an MPAA rating of R. Its runtime is 1 hr. 59 min. |
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