Not a Movie Snob - Deadpool 2 (2018)

Posted on Tuesday, May 22, 2018 at 12:00 PM

"Bullet time"

Deadpool 2 (2018)

Movie Review by Griffintainment X CalgaryMovies.com

I keep saying this, but only because it's true. Superhero movies need to go away now. Like Nickleback in the early noughts, this particular piece of entertainment has been shoved so far down our throats, it's becoming impossible to taste anything else. And the taste was never that delectable to begin with. I know Marvel has a multi-year plan for multiple films that will probably all culminate in a Marvel vs. DC showdown throwdown that will be four hours long and include every character who has ever appeared on a comic book page. But you can count me out on that.

Truth be told, I don't even bother seeing many of these movies anymore. You couldn't drag me to the latest Avengers movie. I liked Black Panther, but probably won't watch it again. And Thor: Ragnarok was fun, but again, I probably won't bother with a double dip.

So why Deadpool 2 then? Why bother with another Marvel movie, albeit a snarky, swear-y, blood and gore-y one? Because it was playing at 10:30am and I wanted to get out of the house for a couple of hours. All this grumbling to say that I come to this movie, and therefore this review, having expected nothing. Because I wasn't a huge fan of the first Deadpool movie, I didn't go in expecting its sequel to be good. And because I didn't hate the first Deadpool movie, I didn't go in expecting its sequel to be bad. I just had a couple hours to burn, that's all. 

If you were a fan of Deadpool 1, and you're wanting more of the same snarky, swear-y, blood and gore-y super antics, then fear not. This movie is nothing if not full of rude humour, offensive language and carnage.

I don't remember the plot of the first Deadpool, or even how he got his powers of invincibility, but in this film, bad guys kill Deadpool's girlfriend (I'm including this tidbit without a spoiler warning because it happens in the first five minutes and was spoken about in interviews). Deadpool, despondent, pulls himself together, with the help of some X-Men B-characters, and charges headlong into a whirlwind of bloody vengeance and halfway funny one liners.

Actually, one of the best things about Deadpool 2 is Julian Dennison as the mutant pre-teen Russell. He's the best thing about the movie not only because his character's story arc is the most interesting, but because Dennison, who was amazing in the wonderful film Hunt for the Wilderpeople, is so fun to watch and has such natural acting ability.

If you know comics, the Deadpool ones and certainly the X-Men ones as well, Deadpool 2 will be a feast of 'oh yeah, I remember that guy/girl from this or that issue'. There are some cool characters who don't get much love in the 'proper' X-Men flicks. And there are a bunch of cameo characters that may or may not have origins in the comics themselves, I honestly never really read comics, so if you're asking me, you're asking the wrong guy. But there are some fun cameo drop ins by stars as diverse as Matt Damon, Brad Pitt and Terry Crews.

Deadpool is full of humour. Even in the movie's more serious moments, Ryan Reynolds is cracking some sort of joke. And while this is to be expected, it got to be a little much. The character of Deadpool isn't written a great deal differently than some of Reynold's other comedic roles. In fact, if you were to take Reynold's character from Waiting, slap a Deadpool suit on him and give him superpowers, you'd probably have it pretty close.

One thing people have been pointing out about the comedy which I agree with, is that it is used to mask, by pointing out, the lazy writing. Rather than write a good plot, the filmmakers seem ok with writing a lazy one and having Ryan Reynolds break the fourth wall continually and wink at the audience with some line about that plot point being lazy. That would be fine if it happened once or twice, but there are so many silly plot points in Deadpool 2 that it feels like Reynolds is doing it throughout the whole film. It's not clever to write a bad plot into a movie, then let the audience know it's a bad plot. It's clever to write a good plot to begin with. Again though, this is a Marvel movie. I wasn't expecting Inception when I bought my ticket.

And that's also Deadpool 2's greatest asset. It doesn't seem to care that it's not as clever as a Nolan film. It doesn't seem to care that you can tell when the filmmakers are using CGI. And it certainly doesn't care if it pisses you off or offends you in any way. You want protagonists who don't swear? Go see Infinity War again. This is Deadpool fucking 2, bitches. This guy kills the bad guys, bangs the pretty ladies, and looks cool doing it. Oh shit, I just realized something. Deadpool is basically a James Bond movie. If James Bond was a burn victim and said things like shitballs and fucknuggets. Which he definitely should. Someone get Barbara Broccoli on the phone!
 

Rating: ****

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