Deadpool 2 (2018) - Review

The merc with a mouth is back on the big screen, with a bigger budget and a bigger cast: But is it better than 2016's surprise smash hit?

In Deadpool 2, the titular anti-hero (Ryan Reynolds) forms a team of unlikely heroes named X-Force (including Zazie Beetz as the debuting Domino) to stop the time traveller Cable (Josh Brolin) from executing a mutant child (Julian Dennison).

The first Deadpool film caught many off-guard, with its comically vulgar take on the super hero genre shocking audiences, leading it to become the highest grossing R-rated film of all time. Creating a follow-up to a film so unique promised to be a challenge, and while the core team of Reynolds, Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick return, Deadpool 2 falls shy of the landmark movie that was its predecessor.

Performances were not the issue. Reynolds shines again in the lead role, bringing his undeniable charisma to his joke machine of a character. The relationship Wade Wilson has with Vanessa (Morena Baccarin) is explored deeper than it was in the first film, and they are quite touching. Josh Brolin's Cable is a welcome addition, playing the stoic straight man to Deadpool's zany antics. TJ Miller has some fire lines, and Beetz' Domino is incredibly likeable.

Where the issues arise, is in the story. The plot feels largely stitched together, existing only to put Deadpool and company in the position to make certain meta humour, as opposed to the jokes feeling organically earned. Not enough time is given to any one thread. For example, Cable is criminally underutilized, as is Domino. A large portion of the marketing revolves around these two new characters, yet they are hardly explained beyond surface details. While I am not advocating for a long stream of exposition, I would have preferred some time be taken away from the mutant child Russell's story, and instead be given to the new introductions. Cable and Domino seemingly figure into 20th Century Fox's plans for future X-Force films, so I can only hope we get their stories featured there.

As far as the comedy goes, I was underwhelmed, and downright disappointed. Deadpool worked because it caught us off guard, throwing vulgar joke after naughty pun. Deadpool 2 instead focuses more on meta, fourth wall breaking humour, which I found lacked the home-run, big swing risks that the first film delivered on. In fact, other than the vast use of the F word and some mild violence, I saw little reason for this film to be rated-R, as opposed to the very clear, very obvious need for the hard R in 2016.

Deadpool 2 needed to do 2 things: Deliver a quality follow-up to an instant classic, and establish new characters to breed interest in future team-up films. While I found the film enjoyable for what it was, I cannot say it did all that much to excite me for future films. Deadpool 2 is good enough, but I wouldn't check it out beyond a MATINEE price.