DEADPOOL 2 (2018) - A better X-Men movie than the X-Men movies

Deadpool 2 is a satirical black comedy superhero movie from the studio that killed Wolverine. The movie is directed by David Leitch, and stars Ryan Reynolds, Josh Brolin, Morena Baccarin, Julian Dennison, Zazie Beetz, Brianna Hildebrand, and Stefan Kapičić. In the movie, Deadpool must overcome a personal tragedy, which he tries to cope with by protecting a young mutant using the newly formed X-Force team from the time-traveling soldier Cable.

If you liked the first Deadpool, you'll like this movie as well. You won't love it, but you'll like it. It's a wild avalanche of snarky fourth wall-breaking humor and comic violence that seeks to please the comic book nerds as well as the regular movie-going audience. There are a lot of great jokes in here and the movie stays consistently funny from beginning to end, especially with every time it pokes fun at the superhero movie industry which has only grown since its last debut in 2016.

Of all the new characters in the mix, Josh Brolin as Cable is the most welcome addition. The original Cable from the comics is a laughably hypermasculine, edgy antihero that perfectly encapsulates the '90s, so it's great that Deadpool 2--just like Deadpool in the comics--often times make fun of his dark and edgy character. Zazie Beetz also does a great job as the lucky Domino (although she isn't partners with Cable quite yet) and I really wish there was more of her, and while kid mutant Fistfire isn't terrible, he's certainly not bad. 

The rest of the X-Force team are pretty great when they're on-screen and the "parachute scene" (wink wink) might just be the most brilliant twist in the entire movie. I won't spoil any more but I'm sure nobody saw THAT hilarious scene coming.

But beyond that, the movie doesn't really do anything else that brilliant. The comedy is pretty great, but it doesn't feel as funny as the first movie. Some jokes are reused from the first and they really don't land the second time around. The opening credits were... fine? but nowhere near as funny as in the first movie. Most of the meta fourth wall breaks were good but some really needed to have been cut from the movie. T.J Miller's character Weasel (Deadpool's best friend who owns the bar) is such an afterthought in here that he's almost never funny except from that brief scene where he gets interrogated by Cable. And while Cable and Domino provide some great new additions, it comes at the cost of characters I really liked in the first movie--Blind Al, Negasonic Teenage Warhead--being regulated to the sidelines.

Good thing my boy Colossus is just as great here as in the first movie

And speaking of cameos, holy chimichangas there was a lot of them. I won't spoil any, but be on the lookout when you watch this movie because there are surprise appearances from both comic book characters and real life actors as well. Especially in the end-credits scenes because those were genuinely amazing.

As for the story, it's a really interesting case because it's simultaneously the least and most important aspect of the movie as a whole. On one hand, while it's more complex than the first movie's story (which I'd argue is to the film's overall detriment), it's still obviously not a focus and is just there for us to have a context for all the action and violence. On the other hand, whatever story there is kind of makes it a better X-Men movie than most of the X-Men movies. Yes, we all know the story: mutants are a discriminated people and the X-Men work to stop human and mutant threats while promoting peace between the two. Professor X and Magneto are MLK and Malcolm X, yada yada yada. That's great and all, but when we've had that exact same conflict for 18 years, it gets pretty tiring, which is why it's so refreshing for Deadpool 2 to take on this same conflict from a new angle. 

Deadpool 2 is about trying to rescue an abused kid from a future of anger and evil and violence, breaking the cycle of violence and helping him become a hero. And that's exactly what more X-Men movies should try to do. I don't need movies about the X-Men being mutant Avengers. I want movies where they help the little guy, where they tackle discrimination in a way that's new and original. And of all the movies to do it first and to do it right, it's a freaking Deadpool movie where he actively makes fun of all the other X-Men movies.

Final Verdict

Go see it if you liked the first movie, skip it if you didn't. There's quite a bit of reused jokes that fall flat and you're probably not going to like it as much as the first one, but it's still a fun flick regardless.

Please don't bring your kids.

Score: B