Deadpool 2 (2018)

'Deadpool 2' is not the sequel I expected, but am still overly satisfied with the overall film minus a few bruises along the way. The biggest change here is the tone and not in the way you'd expect. Don't worry, the film still retains it's sense of humor and DP still has his usual charm and crude catch phrases, but this film throws in a lot more serious and dramatic beats than I expected going in. These changes however don't always benefit this sequel, specifically the premise The story is based on the Cable storyline, in which a super soldier (Josh Brolin) travels back in time to kill a young mutant who causes an apocalypse as an adult. It's a no brainer that this story is a carbon copy of 'The Terminator' even when first published on the page, but as a film it sticks out like a sore thumb even more and unfortunately comes off as too generic despite the script's fun attempts to poke fun at its plagiarizing.

Where the film does shine is still in its crude humor, charm, and over the top violence thought even with these the film struggles a bit in comparison to the original. Some jokes are too similar to previous ones and even for Deadpool seem a little juvenile (shoving a power cord up someone's ass is a little too stupid even for me) but for the most part the jokes still made me laugh out loud and will likely tickle your funny bone as well. The characters here are somewhat of a mixed bag, and their lack of development is even more ironic when you constantly hear DP talk of lazy writing to his audience. I feel that this film attempts to cram in too many new characters, while limiting the more familiar faces. The one part this works is in a scene that just comes out of left field and has to simply been seen to be believed but just adding characters in for jokes rather than story is indeed lazy Deadpool.

The worst character here is young mutant Russell, who is Cable's intended target. I'm not going to tear the kid apart as it is his first major role, but they've given him such a thin arc that it was hard for me to care about him, especially when he's written to be a bratty teenager. It was a similar issue with the last movie's Negasonic Teenage Warhead, but here it's a big issue as Russell is a major plot point to the story. In the end, 'Deadpool 2' will likely satisfy everyone who enjoyed the first film as it's essentially more of the same. However what made the first film so good was in its simplicity whereas this film suffers from a few symptoms of sequelitis such as being too bloated and less satisfactory writing. Still, it's an impressive superhero flick and one of the best films this summer so I recommend you check it out with haste.


Oh, and be sure to stay for about 5 funny mid-credit scenes that you won't want to miss.

8/10