Review: Deadpool 2

I saw and liked the first Deadpool movie. It was fun, entertaining, and had good action. And if you know the story behind it getting made, then you know that it was not smooth sailing for the character. Eventually, everything came together and in 2016, it got made on a lower budget than most superhero movies. Fast forward two years and Deadpool became the second highest grossing R-rated film of all time.

So now Deadpool is back and more irreverent than ever and with a higher budget in Deadpool 2. I was worried going into this because after the success of the first one, Fox went and almost doubled their budget for this one. I was worried that it would fall prey to trying to stick too much into a movie that didn’t need it.

But boy, was I wrong.

In the very beginning, the narrating Wade Wilson – Deadpool’s true identity – tells the audience that this is a family movie. But it’s not a family movie in the, “Let’s get our three 10 and under kids together and go out for a family movie night” sense. It’s in the sense that the movie is about family and the importance of belonging. It brings so much more heart and emotion than I ever would have expected from a movie about a trained killer who constantly swears and makes inappropriate jokes.

While the first film was a straightforward story about Wade trying to get revenge on Francis, its sequel brings more depth and complexity. After an event in his life causes him to want to find a group of people where he can fit in and feel like he belongs. So along with the jokes, we get to see a soft and genuine side of Deadpool that I was not expecting at all.

That’s one of the best parts of this movie: it subverts expectations. It makes you think that it is going to be one thing through the marketing and after the first act, but it ends up as something different. After Deadpool mostly just made fun of tropes and clichés in superhero movies, Deadpool 2 says, “I’ll do you one better” and becomes a good film with a meaningful message behind it in its own right.

Unfortunately, some of the humor didn’t really work too well. Dopinder, the taxi driver from the first movie, seems out of place. He served what the first film did perfectly, but now, he is kind of just there, trying but not succeeding to fit into what is going on.

Also, there are a good amount of direct shots at other superhero movies throughout the whole movie. But at first, they’re funny, but after a while, they get old and you sit there hoping that they’ll think of more original jokes.

I also noticed at least five jokes repeated from the first movie. As Deadpool says, “That’s just lazy writing.” But since he said that, I have to assume that they were on purpose.

But overall, the humor was great. There are so many one-liners that had me full on laughing. There are also some really hilarious Easter eggs that are totally unexpected. These, along with the amazing heart it brings – I never thought I’d be feeling real emotions at the end of a Deadpool movie – serve to craft a sequel that not only lives up to its predecessor, but perhaps exceeds it.

#Deadpool #Deadpool2 #RyanReynolds #Marvel #XMen