Nothing sums up the potty-mouthed “Deadpool” series better than “Maximum effort!,” the perennially-sarcastic character’s battle cry/smarmy catchphrase from the comics and movies. No one wants to knock a film for trying too hard (isn’t that the point?), but a supreme effort to provoke and impress was groin-thrust into the original, fairly-juvenile R-Rated 20th Century Fox Film. Directed by Tim Miller, “Deadpool” was exasperating, a mostly insufferable, self-satisfied and gratuitously violent effort that strained itself to be offensive, irreverent and clownish at all times.
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“Deadpool 2,” now directed by David Leitch, one half of the team that helmed “John Wick,” is equally meta and self-aware and even more maximalist overkill and yet, the tone of the annoying/obnoxious character has been perfectly captured: “Deadpool 2,” while extremely thin on plot, is gleefully impish, entertaining and often laugh-out-loud funny. Almost everything that felt forced, crass and hamfisted in the original film now feels organic and effortless; a constant breezy stream of gags, quips and expertly choreographed action. “Deadpool 2” is filthier, funnier and ferociously manic. It’s also brutalist Hard-R in nearly every aspect, but never to the degree that it’s baiting the audience.
Starring motor-mouthed Ryan Reynolds as the Merc with a mouth, “Deadpool 2” is so spoiler-laden from the jump it’s a little difficult to discuss, but Leitch’s film, once again written by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, manages to raise the dramatic stakes and yet never at the expense of jokes and amusement (and yes, it’s obsessed with Wolverine and Hugh Jackman as the marketing has already suggested). Leitch’s ping-ponging, dexterous, ADD-riddled movie is also able to stop on a dime and shift tones without missing a beat. “Deadpool 2” is by turns as serious as a heart attack, viscerally punishing in its excellent fight sequences, melodramatic and hilarious. The film even succeeds at occasionally pulling the heartstrings a little in its romance; it’s that versatile.
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After a season of gruesomely killing bad guys, “Deadpool” finds the normally-saucy mutant mercenary Wade Wilson/Deadpool facing tragedy. Lost and unmoored, after a few false starts with his old pals in the X-Men, Colossus (Stefan Kapicic), Negasonic Teenage Warhead (Brianna Hildebrand) and new member Surge (Shioli Kutsuna), Wilson find purpose in protecting Russell, a young boy (Julian Denison) with supernatural abilities from the brutal, cybernetic time-traveling mutant Cable, a character that feels copied and pasted right out of the “Terminator” movies, but is so terrifically played by an uber-committed Josh Brolin that it doesn’t matter.
Like in the James Cameron film, Cable believes Russell must die to save the future, but Deadpool, searching for meaning in his life, decides saving the kid will bring his salvation. In order to defend the boy, the F-bomb-dropping anti-hero rallies a together a team of fellow mutant rogues known as X-Force (Terry Crews and Bill Skarsgård among the team). While many of these characters are diverting, especially Peter (Rob Delaney), the shlubby normcore guy with zero powers, it’s Domino (played by the endlessly charismatic “Atlanta” star Zazie Beetz), a hero with the power of good luck, that steals the show.
Writers Reese and Wernick constantly keep the audiences on their toes. Just when “Deadpool 2” seems as if it’s going to insinuate itself further into the “X-Men” universe, it pivots away. Thematically, the film persistently plays with the motif of family, especially with Deadpool’s obligations to Russell, but it quickly dismantles that concept before things get too cozy.
Most of the original cast returns. Morena Baccarin, T.J. Miller, Leslie Uggams as Blind Al and Karan Soni as the Pakistani Taxi Driving cliché Dopinder, but it’s all the new characters that shine brightest. Brolin, coming off a surprisingly empathetic turn as Thanos in “Avengers: Infinity War” is equally menacing as Cable, but his straight man disgust and loathing for Deadpool and his sideshow antics provoke lots of laughs. Again, Beetz is charm central as the character who gracefully escapes every situation with a lot of blind, dumb, fortunate luck. Make no mistake; this character will be front and center of any sequels or spin-off movies.
The weak link of the picture is Julian Denison as Russell Collins/ Firefist though through no fault of his own. As if hoping no one would notice (or saw the film), Russell is seemingly lifted wholesale from his Ricky Baker role from Taika Waititi’s “Hunt for the Wilderpeople” coming of age comedy; an angry young boy who wants to be a badass gangsta.
Still, “Deadpool 2,” as slight as it is, is a cheeky delight, ruthless in its profane and out of line cracks and one-liners. Digs, references and easter eggs are fast and furious too. The film is merciless about the D.C. Universe (hysterical) and drops low blows at the expense of Marvel, Fox, the Avengers, the X-Men and even Deadpool comic book creator Rob Liefeld. Truth be told, a second viewing will probably reveal even more slurs and cracks, as the laughs hurl by at a rapid pace.
At two hours in length, “Deadpool 2” almost overstays its welcome, but wraps up quickly, save for one joke the team beats to death, and yet, it’s still funny. Much has been made about the cameos and post-credit scenes in the film (all four of them) and spoiler, many of them are uproariously comical, but that’s as far as we’ll go here. Suffice it to say, some of these scenes even threaten to best the entire movie.
“Deadpool 2” doesn’t reinvent the wheel, nor is it going to change the super-powered underoos game at all—it did that once already with its obscene humor and R-Rating—but as a diverting slice of popcorn escapism, it acts as a nice antidote to the grim ‘Infinity War,’ and could be the lewd and indecent superhero film to beat this summer. [B+]