I didn’t know what to think about this movie going in because I’ve heard so many conflicting things about it. Months ago, it was reported that Deadpool 2 tested poorly with audiences citing a lack of a story and major characters like Domino and Cable being wasted with little screen time. Josh Brolin then confirmed that the film was reshot to add more scenes of Cable and Domino. You also have the concern of Tim Miller not coming back to direct the sequel. Once the reshoots happened, people claimed that the movie greatly improved, some even saying that it is better than the first movie…I would drug test those people.
Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) is back as Deadpool and within minutes his girlfriend dies. Trying to find a reason to live (because you know, he can’t die) he decides to join Colossus and Negasonic Teenage Warhead as an X-Men (Trainee). He discovers a young mutant named Russell at an orphanage who has been abused by the staff so Wade kills one of the staff members. While Deadpool and Russell are thrown in mutant prison, a cybernetic soldier named Cable comes from the future to find and kill Russell to prevent him from becoming a murderer in the future. Wade must now care about someone outside of himself and try to stop Russell from becoming a mass murderer before Cable puts him down.
Watching this film, I see where the complaints about the original cut are justified and honestly, if they didn’t do the reshoots, this film would have been so much worse. Deadpool 2 lacks a strong story and interesting characters that made the first film stand out. The film centers on Deadpool finding purpose and opening up his heart with this kid who borders on unlikable to the point you’ll probably be more on Cable’s side by film’s end and I’m not sure that was the intention. If Domino and Cable weren’t reshot to be added more in the film then I could only imagine how wasted their characters were in the original cut.
Zazie Beetz was ok as Domino but she did nothing in the film to make you overlook the fact she looks nothing like her comic book counterpart. Josh Brolin is fine as Cable but he is nowhere near as impactful as his role as Thanos in Infinity War. All the characters you love from the first movie don’t have much to do with this one. They come around for the occasional joke, but that’s about it. I heard many people complain about the CGI, but I guess I didn’t pay too much attention to it to notice.
What makes Deadpool 2 enjoyable is the easter eggs, the jokes, and the references. There are a lot of cameos in the film that are great. A lot of pop culture references (even a recurring Dubstep reference which feels slightly outdated). Lots of jokes at the GOP’s expense and the film is META AF. The best scene is halfway during the film there is a hilarious action sequence where our heroes parachute jump out of a plane and what takes place is not only the best scene in the film but one of the funniest sequences in the history of comic book movies. When I think about scenes like this that were very well done, I struggle to find a balance with scenes like the ending, which is intentionally stretched out to be funny, but the problem is it wasn’t funny so the film comes to a screeching halt for a gag that doesn’t find its mark.
Deadpool 2 does have plenty of genuine laughs and I can’t say that it’s a bad movie. However, the film doesn’t offer much more than that which is why it’s such a letdown from what the first Deadpool was. I’m not sure if I’m interested in Deadpool 3 at this point. Maybe an X-Force film (as long as Disney isn’t calling the shots) but as far as this one goes, Deadpool 2 is worth a watch the first time around but you’ll probably won’t care for a repeat showing. Like Ryan Reynolds says in the trailer “Stop at 2. You killed it!”.
3/5
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