Deadpool 2 (2018): Worthy Sequel

I love good Hollywood-style action/adventure movies. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Jurassic Park (1993) and Jurassic World (2015), Terminator 2 (1991), Die Hard (1988), The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and the like – they’re great. They make me feel like a kid again. And while I’m not a big fan of most comic book based, superhero/fantasy summer blockbuster pictures (and avoid seeing a lot of them), a few of these genre pictures rise above the tedious, clamorous, run-of-the-mill mass and approach greatness (or at least above average-ness). The first Iron Man feature in 2008 or The Dark Knight, also in 2008 and probably the best Batman movie, come to mind.

Deadpool (2016) is in this category. A movie about a guy who develops superpowers and fights bad guys, that also somehow defies all of the conventions of the superhero genre. For starters, Wade Wilson a.k.a. Deadpool is no hero. He’s a mercenary – a cynical, foulmouthed loner with few if any scruples, and certainly no interest in crimefighting, public service - or in helping other people really. Until he falls in love with the lovely Vanessa – a prostitute, naturally. Oh, and he has a great, dark sense of humor not to mention a clever, cute and witty use of language.

Oddly enough, I first saw Deadpool while strapped to an apheresis machine at a Red Cross donation center. The process takes a couple of hours, so donors get to watch movie dvds while lying here, and Deadpool was the only one in the fairly large collection on offer that was of any interest (and that I hadn’t yet seen). It sure took my mind off the task at hand. Funny, offbeat, thrilling, imaginatively filmed – most of all, this was a movie with attitude!  Even the story of how our protagonist got his superhero name is darkly comic.

I suppose I should warn the tender plants out there that Deadpool – the character and the film– is also vulgar and violent, albeit both characteristics are largely in the service of light entertainment, rather than salacious or prurient ends. The same goes for the new sequel.

Deadpool 2 is a sequel that doesn’t outdo its source, but nor does it underperform. Fans of the first movie will not be disappointed. At least I wasn’t.  Just like its predecessor, this picture starts a little way in and then backtracks, via voiceover narration by Wade/Deadpool and a flashback sequence that brings us up to speed. Although the plot is new and different, the tone, the style of wit and the action is of the same style and, more importantly of a similar caliber as the first film.  

And like the first movie, our anti-hero protagonist – who I’ll call Wade from now on so as to avoid confusion between the movie title and the character – is at the center of it all. Wade, played brilliantly by Ryan Reynolds [National Lampoon’s Van Wilder (2002), The Woman in Gold (2015)], has a smart-aleck attitude, a highly ironic wit, an imaginative, deadly fighting style, and many, many ups and downs – mostly downs. Having the ability to quickly heal from pretty much any injury, no matter how gruesome or deadly it may seem, certainly helps - and not incidentally, adds to the comic possibilities.  Reynolds is the cog that makes the whole Deadpool franchise work. This time around, in addition to bringing his character to life and charming the pants off us, he helped write the screenplay, and was a co-producer as well. 

Like the first Deadpool, the action sequences in Deadpool 2 are kinetically thrilling – in part because individually they are not overlong and thus not overdone, unlike so many other films of this type in which the so-called action, usually overburdened with great infusions of CGI, goes on too long and winds up boring us.  As I’ve mentioned, both films are loaded with violent scenes, but it’s a live-action cartoon-style of violence, which is too silly to be truly disturbing, much less appalling.

 Nevertheless, the film remains primarily a comedy. It does this in a self-consciously arch and/or ironic way, often sending up the whole comic book superhero genre of which it is very much a part, not to mention Hollywood itself. Deadpool 2 also maintains the conceit that Wade can narrate his own story, knowing that we are watching, moving back and forth in time, and periodically breaking the fourth wall to speak directly to us, usually to underscore the drollness of it all. Besides the satire, we’re also treated to verbal and visual puns, screwball dialogue, and even a bit of the old slapstick.

A number of characters return from the original movie, among them comedian T.J. Miller as Weasel, the danger-averse bartender and sometime friend to Wade, who may be even funnier on this go-round; and Karan Soni as Dapinder, the hapless cab driver to whom Wade took a shine in the first movie, and who now would really like to get into the action, despite a complete absence of qualifications. Leslie Uggams returns as well, playing Blind Al, who has little to do but provide occasional comfort to Wade, while sassing him in her vulgar, yet reasonable way. Her place is the scene, in the third act, of one of the best and funniest moments in the movie, a sight gag having to do with Wade’s regenerative powers. And Morena Baccarin [Homeland (2011-2013)], a high-ranking member of my onscreen girlfriend list, reprises her role as Wade’s true love, Vanessa, a key person in Wade’s universe, albeit with too little screen time.

But hey, there are new characters as well, who also help to keep the action and the comedy wheels spinning. On the action side, we get Cable, a seemingly invincible cyber-warrior tough-guy from the future, played with a good deal of charisma by Josh Brolin [No Country for Old Men (2007), Hail Caesar (2016)]. Cable is on a quest, following a time-worn plot device: he has travelled back in time to kill someone before they wreak havoc in the future. [See The Terminator (1984), Terminator 2 (1991), Twelve Monkeys (1995), Looper (2012)]. He’s dangerous, and he's cool.

My favorite new character may be Domino, an African American woman recruited by Wade to be a part of his new “X-Force”.  She‘s played beautifully by newcomer,  Zazie Beetz, an African-German-American.   What’s Domino’s superpower? “I’m lucky,” she says – and as it turns out this facility makes for some of the coolest action sequences in Deadpool 2. I expect we’ll be seeing a lot more of Ms. Beetz in the next few years.

There are also a couple of cute new characters. After playing Ricky, the orphan with a chip on his shoulder in Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016), Julian Dennison returns as Russell a.k.a. “Firefist” here, again an orphan with a well-deserved chip on his shoulder and a somewhat similar personality, except here he’s out for revenge against the evil masters of the “Mutant Reeducation Center” where he’s been mistreated; and he’s got a superpower of his own to help him to that goal. Surprisingly, Wade takes a shine to the kid and tries to protect him. Then there is Yukio (Shioli Kutsuna), a young, lavender haired ninja sidekick to the returning, pint-sized  Negasonic Teenage Warhead (Brianna Hildebrand) – herself an acolyte of the large, metallic Colossus. Yukio’s sole purpose in Deadpool 2 is to be cute. And she is.

There are also cameos by Brad Pitt and Matt Damon. You may or may not spot them.

Directed by David Leitsch, the former stuntman par excellence, who recently directed Atomic Blonde (2017) starring Charlize Theron, it’s no surprise that the action is so well done in Deadpool 2. Turns out he’s got a knack for comedy, too. It’s all timing, right?

1 hour 59 minutes.       Rated R (for language and violence?)

Grade: A-

In wide release.