Sequels have an unspoken rule, amp up everything… period. With Deadpool 2, those Marvel-ous folks behind the second coming of Wade Wilson and his Merc with a Mouth alter ego have managed to up the ante in their sequel in ways that are extraordinary.
They are even more stunning in that the elevated elements are thorough through the entire DNA of what makes a Deadpool movie a Deadpool experience.
The humor, it’s funnier. The action, it’s more intense and bone crushing. The costs are mind-blowingly serious. Deadpool’s legendary self-awareness and meta embracing nature is raised to sky-high levels. It is like all involved got together and hammered out the most stunning way to exponentially top the 2016 original in every conceivable way.
Deadpool 2.0 finds our anti-hero doing quite well for himself, crossing the globe wielding his unique brand of justice. Then, something happens and that is made by worse by something else that has Mr. Pool digging deep in the emotional well to the point where he comes to the wise decision to call for back-up and that arrives in the form of the teased in the Deadpool 2 trailer, X-Force. Mutants you have heard of and a few that you haven’t join Wilson to battle a renegade soldier from the future named Cable (Josh Brolin, going two-for-two this summer season after killing it as Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War) over the future of a fourteen-year-old boy.
Vague enough for ya? No spoilers here at The Movie Mensch!
The script is a fascinating entity to evaluate. There has hardly ever been a film of this kind that was so simultaneously irreverent and inspired. Double entendres, Easter eggs, fourth-wall breaking narratives, the plot, action sequences and a titanic ton of comic book references come at you like all those bullets that DP manages to dodge at the most and heal from immediately at the least. Co-screenwriters Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick and Reynolds are a creative X-Force who not only keenly get the character of Deadpool, but also his world, the souls who exist in this landscape and the larger universe where they all reside.
That old saying that if the cast is having a blast, the audience will too could never be truer than what we get with Deadpool 2. Reynolds is having the time of his life and after the up and down career that was his resume pre-Deadpool, one can see why. That is not the only thing bringing bliss from the Canadian actor. He has got material that is pure gold to work with, a character that is custom made for his talents and persona, an ensemble of fellow thespians in front of the camera and filmmakers behind the lens who too are basking in the brilliance of all things Deadpool, but also the entire endeavor is simply balls-to-the-wall fun. Side effects of watching this sure-to-be-hit is a perma-grin that will not cease to exist the entire ride home.
Then, there is the hot streak that is Brolin continuing with his second-straight stellar piece of work in two months. When all is said and done at the end of August, do not be surprised if the actor is considered summer movie season 2018’s MVP. He brings a nuance to Cable that is refreshingly real. Then again, he did the same thing in Infinity War, didn’t he? This is not an ordinary villain in black and white. As played by Brolin, both Cable and Thanos are individuals driven by something that is so attached to their collective core, it’s hard to discern if his actions are actually malevolent.
David Leitch (Atomic Blonde), aka “the man who killed a dog in John Wick,” could not be a more impeccable choice to helm this magnificent madcap movie. It is just the touch the sequel needed after the uncanny work Tim Miller did in the original. There’s an operatic approach he has always brought to his action sequences, cut from years as a second unit director, stuntman and of course, stunt coordinator.
What makes Deadpool 2 so special is that it is not simply a Ryan Reynolds hurricane of hijinks and hilarity. It takes a village to conjure up a cinematic tsunami that triumphs in every sense of the word. Deadpool, the franchise, is starting to feel all involved are to filmmaking what the Dream Team 1992 was to basketball.
Grade: A+