Deadpool 2 (2018), directed by David Leitch, stars Ryan Reynolds, Julian Dennison, Josh Brolin, Zazie Beetz, T.J. Miller, Morena Baccarin, Stefan Kapicic, Brianna Hildebrand, Karan Soni, Leslie Uggams, Eddie Marsan, Shioli Kutsuna, Jack Kesy, and Rob Delaney. The film once follows the titular anti-hero Deadpool as he attempts to recover from a devastating personal tragedy. Seeking a new sense of purpose, he sets out to live the life of a hero and eventually encounters Russell, a young mutant who has endured an abusive past. Due to his lingering grief, Deadpool lets Russell down in a moment of need which pushes the young mutant down a dark path. This soon ushers the arrival of Cable (Brolin), a time-traveling cyborg who intends to kill Russell to change the perilous future from which he came. Itching to fix his mistakes, Deadpool forms “X-Force,” a team of heroes that includes the mysterious Domino (Beetz), a mutant whose power is unlimited luck. Together they set out to stop Cable and convince Russell to avoid a dark future driven by a desire for revenge. 

Reynolds unsurprisingly carries over his same schtick from the first film, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. As I mentioned in my review of the first film, I estimate that this brand of comedy will work for about three-fourths of the audience while the rest will most likely just roll their eyes in annoyance. Brolin and Beetz are well-cast as Cable and Domino so it’s a shame that the film’s script never finds enough time to flesh them out. Cable gets a little bit of background (the bare minimum), but it’s Domino who really gets the short end of the stick. The script doesn’t bother with giving her any background and by the end of the film, she doesn’t even factor into the plot. Although Beetz is lively in her performance, the character falls into the realm of “characters that could be removed without changing the story.” Returning characters including Colossus (Kapicic), Negasonic Teenage Warhead (Hildebrand), Dopinder (Soni), and Blind Al (Uggams) are a ton of fun to see again. It almost makes me wish that this film didn’t feel the need to add so many new characters in what feels like a studio mandate. This causes the film to unfortunately fall into the all too common comic-book sequel trap: It’s overstuffed. 

The film also lacks a true central villain. Dennison’s Russell aka Firefist takes on the role for most of the film, but he’s never a true villain, he’s a villain that’s on the cusp of being one. The whole plot centers around the idea that he’s not yet a villain, but he’s close. Cable also never feels like a villain, only an antagonist. His motivations can honestly be seen as more heroic (or at least relatable) than our main character. Even the two villainous characters we do get aren’t given any motivations. Therefore they don’t feel like serious/important characters – they just feel like henchmen at best. This sacrifices any stakes/danger the film may have had, and although this is primarily a comedy, it equally strives to be an exciting action film. Unfortunately, its excitement can’t match its laughs.

New director David Leitch provides his trademark bright and flashy action-style and it fits perfectly with Deadpool’s violent yet fun-loving tone. Inspired song choices often juxtapose the brutal action sequences which in turn supports this fun tone, yet once again also eliminates any feeling of suspense. All this being said, I do think Leitch brings an improved visual eye to the action. A majority of sequences are filmed at a wide angle, resulting in action that is clear and relies more on strong choreography as opposed to lazy editing tricks. When the filmmakers put in the time to sequence action practically, the audience can tell and they no doubt prefer it. 

Although I find that this is generally equal in quality to the first film, it’s clear that the script is a bit looser – as if the team behind the first film didn’t have enough time to fully flesh it out(which is undoubtedly the case). The pacing, although not particularly bad, is a bit strange. For example, Cable and Deadpool, the two opposing forces of the film, don’t cross paths until almost an hour in. Although it’s not frustrating considering that everything is entertaining up to that point, it clearly hurts the film’s ability to flesh out its central conflict. Although used to stuff in a few more jokes, the climax also lingers on for far too long. Everything is resolved and unless this is a person’s first viewing and the jokes still land, it results in the viewer impatiently checking the runtime to see how much is left. That being said, the film is backed by a cool (yet admittedly derivative) The Terminator (1984)-like premise and a more comedically minded approach that allows the viewer to mostly forgive the weaker script.   

The comedy is the film’s saving grace and although the jokes don’t hit as consistently as the first film, I feel that its comedic highs are the highest of the two films so far. For example, the lighthearted jabs at Hugh Jackman’s portrayal of Wolverine are hilarious. Unfortunately, this speaks to one of the issues with the comedy overall. A lot of the jokes rely on unrelated, or worse, timely references. Sure, these work for the first couple of years after release, but even after six years, a few of the jokes here are starting to tiptoe toward being cringeworthy in how outdated they seem. Yes, Deadpool should always have a meta edge to his jokes, but they only seem to hold up when they are referencing timeless classics such as this film’s spoof of the traditional James Bond opening credits sequence.    

Overall, this is essentially another large helping of what Reynolds and Co. served up in the first film. It falls into as many pitfalls of comic-book sequels as it avoids, but these elements are easy to forgive considering that the film doesn’t fully rely on being particularly serious or complex. It’s not mind-blowing, but it sure is fun. It also helps that it ends on the high note of having one of the most irresistibly fun post-credits the genre has to offer. B