Review – Deadpool 2

Deadpool is back!  But this time, it’s personal.  After the funny, entertaining, game-changing first film, the Merc with the Mouth changes gears in this sequel, which offers up more blood, characters, action, and, more impressively, more depth and emotion.

After tragedy strikes our foul-mouthed mercenary, Wade Wilson/Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) must find a new meaning of life and does so in a troubled mutant named Russell (Julian Dennison).  When Russell is being hunted by the time-traveling Cable (Josh Brolin), Deadpool assembles a team of fellow mutants (and a non-mutant) in order to protect the kid.

As Randy, Jamie Kennedy’s movie-obsessed character in Scream 2 said, sequels always have higher body counts and the death scenes are much more elaborate, with more blood and more gore.  When it comes to Deadpool 2, Randy isn’t wrong.  In fact, he’s spot on.  Deadpool 2 adds gallons upon gallons of blood compared to the first one, which is saying something.  From the opening montage to the X-Force almost battle, the body count rises in spectacular fashion, with smoothly choreographed fight scenes and some exciting and hilarious set pieces.

But where Deadpool 2 really succeeds is in it’s story and emotion.  Deadpool and Deadpool 2 are both simple, yet effective movies.  The first film is really a basic revenge story that highlights the mastery of Ryan Reynolds.  But where the sequel shines is in the love story and the story of maturity.  Deadpool is a sarcastic bastard.  A man who gets a high off of killing and causing chaos to his victims.  But the one person who can ground him is his wife Vanessa.  She is the only thing Deadpool loves more than his job and it is this relationship the drives the emotional arc in the movie.  Vanessa is forcing Deadpool to become the hero that he is meant to be.  She knows there is good in this man and she is pushing him to be his absolute best.  For a character who was rather shallow and narrow-minded in the first film, we actually see growth and maturation from him in this one.  There are scenes that are particularly powerful emotionally, especially at the end.  Blending this emotion with the biting, meta humor Deadpool is known for, and you have a balanced, compelling film.

Of course, Ryan Reynolds is the MVP of the film once again.  This might be his best performance to date, topping his performance from the first film.  I don’t think Reynolds has every conveyed this much emotion in a movie before.  We knew he could do the comedy and physicality, but Reynolds sells us on Deadpool’s emotional growth by giving us scenes of sadness, confusion, and sweetness, giving us a layered performance not usually seen by him.

Right on Reynolds’s heels for MVP of the film is Josh Brolin as Cable.  Fresh off a stellar performance as Thanos in Avengers: Infinity, Brolin is terrifying and riveting as our time traveling assassin.  He also adds a couple nice quips and his banter with Reynolds is priceless.

I also loved Dennison as our troubled mutant, Zazie Beetz as the consistently lucky Domino, and the rest of X-Force.  This is a terrific ensemble and everyone brings their A-game.

Deadpool 2 may not be as groundbreaking as the first film, but it might be just as good.  With Ryan Reynolds and Josh Brolin crushing their performances, thrilling action, and more emotion than most comic book movies today, Deadpool 2 is a great film on all levels.

Oh, and let me briefly talk about the post-credit sequence.  It is both one of the best and one of the worst parts of this movie.  On the one hand, it is one of the greatest post credit sequences ever.  So funny, so meta, so Deadpool.  However, in the context of the events of the movie, it really hurts all the emotional weight the movie did so well.  This honestly brought the movie’s overall rating down a half a star for me.  Shame.

Did you see Deadpool 2?  What did you think?  Comment below or hit me up on Twitter and Instagram, @kevflix, or on Facebook by searching Kevflix.