Deadpool 2 Movie Review: A Good Old Fashioned Bro Down
I still remember seeing the original Deadpool for the first time. I wasn't familiar with the character of Deadpool aka Wade Wilson whatsoever, I didn't see any of the trailers and I went to see it at the cinema on a whim. I loved it, it was completely unexpected and I found it mostly funny. My wife says I am a boy trapped in a man's body, so the child-like toilet and bro-humour were right up my alley.
Like the first movie, Deadpool 2 is upfront about its satirical parody of movie stereotypes and cliches. In one scene Deadpool announces a "big CGI fight scene coming up" – and then shortly thereafter, a big CGI fight scene breaks out. The constant fourth wall breaking from the first movie makes its way back into the sequel with Deadpool speaking to the audience numerous times.
While I found the first movie funny, by the end I did feel tired. The comedy was so overdone, it was exhausting. In the sequel, they've amped up the comedy by a factor of ten and it's actually funnier than the first movie. However, the movie at times does make you feel tired, it's constant. But at certain points of the movie, you're instantly jump started again and the cycle continues.
The one thing that Deadpool 2 does is it ensures that it never takes itself too seriously. Even when something serious is happening, the movie finds a way to spin the situation and make comedy out of it. Whether it be a bunch of people getting shot in an over-the-top shoot-out.
Unlike the first movie, Ryan Reynolds earns himself a writing credit on Deadpool 2 and in the process has gone full Pool, embracing the character even more-so than the first film (which took years to be made). Co-writing this film has allowed Reynolds to take his portrayal of the anti-hero Deadpool to the utmost extreme.
If you enjoyed the first film, you're already going to enjoy the sequel. It's more of the same from the first film, except it's a cliche revenge plot with Deadpool avenging his girlfriend (the movie points out this cliche like other cliches), an entertaining revenge plot at that.
One of the biggest surprises is the appearance of New Zealand child actor Julian Dennison who some might notice is from the NZ film Hunt For The Wilderpeople, he plays a child with "a splash of diabetes" and Deadpool tries assembling a team to save him from Cable.
When it comes to a movie like Deadpool, you're either in the camp of loving these types of movies or you hate them. It's crude, it's over-the-top and it's ridiculous. While more of the same from the first film, they've refined the concept and allowed Ryan Reynolds to explore the satirical complexities that make Deadpool such a great character.
I really enjoyed Deadpool 2. It might not be an intellectually stimulating film, but everyone in the cinema was laughing along at all of the jokes (including myself) and well, I would call that a success in my opinion.
If you don't want any spoilers, you should stop reading now.
One of the best parts of the movie I thought was hilarious and well-done was the post-credits scene where Deadpool steals Cable’s time-travelling technology to go back and murder the old Deadpool character, right in front of young Wolverine.
This is an exceptionally well-done scene because it ties in Wolverine's plotline from X-Men Days of Future Past, where Wolverine travels back to the seventies, and a slight comedic dig at the X-Men series knowing for using Wolverine's trip to erase parts of history.
But the best part is yet to come when after Deadpool kills the old Deadpool, he also kills a young Ryan Reynolds reading the script for Green Lantern. If you're not familiar, Green Lantern is a movie starring Ryan Reynolds that got ABSOLUTELY panned in the reviews and is regarded as one of the worse movies of all time.