QR Film Reviews: Deadpool 2
"While Deadpool 2 really does for the most part deliver on humour and violence, it doesn’t really bring anything new to the table."
★★★½
Run time: 2 hours
Three weeks after the ultra-hyped Infinity War, I’m seated waiting for the start of Deadpool 2. "Surely this movie doesn’t care about IW", I thought. Now is the time to sit back, enjoy some nameless guys getting chopped to bits, laugh carelessly at the tasteful fourth wall breaks, and even harder at the not-so-tasteful dark humour, delivered by the ever-so-charming Ryan Reynolds. This is not going to be a serious movie, right? Right??
They tried to make it a serious movie.
Now for the blinded fans in the audience, it is possible for Marvel to do wrong, and for the most part, this was a very good movie. There were a plethora of good jokes, lots of good references, and clever commentary on the state of films today. The only thing more broken down than the 4th wall were the victims of the crunchy, gritty action scenes, excellently directed by David Leitch, who brought all of his tricks from the first John Wick film to this picture; need I say more?
The sound design was impeccable, truly up to scratch with Guardians of the Galaxy, but instead of vintage bangers and disco, we’re treated to ultra-violence a la Deadpool to the tune of Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5”. Truly a spectacle to behold. In fact, the whole soundtrack is pretty impressive, boasting some AC/DC, A-Ha, and…Skrillex…all sequenced in with a perfect blend of action and comedy.
Like Robert Down Jr as Iron Man, or Andy Serkis as whatever CGI talking…thing he plays, Ryan Reynolds shines once again as the role he was born to be. Paired up with T.J Miller, we see plently of onscreen charisma and back to back jokes that kill, ever time. With Karan Soni as Dopinder, the same off-colour charm is seen, and these scenes are definitely some of the film’s highlights for me.
Also along for the ride are the motley crew of X-men from the first movie, all of whom sort of just...get on with it. We have the oddly star-studded cast of the “X-Force”, including Terry Crews and Brad Pitt, briefly putting in the time for a couple of laughs and no doubt a big pay check. Finally Josh Brolin, fresh of the screen as Thanos, stars as the sort-of-bad-but-definitely-mean-dude Cable. In a role that almost definitely couldn’t live up to expectations he, well, fails to live up to expectations. Outside of the phenomenal fight scenes, and futuristic colour grading that could be straight out of Blade Runner 2049, his performance seats him in the roster of Marvel villains somewhere between Ego and whoever the bad guy in Iron Man 2 was. Oh, and Julian Dennison played Russel, that edgy emo kid from secondary school who got on everyone’s nerves and continues to do so in this movie, but instead of just hanging around by himself, this mouth-breathing nuisance takes centre stage as the focus of the plot.
When I go to see a Deadpool movie, I don’t want emotional heaviness, I want a story that I don’t need to think too hard about, that’ll happily facilitate dark humour and the violent-est violence, give a few satisfying cameos and references, and give a well-rounded “f&%@ off” to what we’ve come to expect from superhero movies. While Deadpool 2 really does deliver on the humour (for the most part) and the violence, it doesn’t really bring anything new to the table.
The story is basically a violent Logan, with the brunt of the story revolving around Deadpool trying to protect Russel from Cable, who has come back from the future to kill Russel before he can grow up to murder Cable’s family for some reason. Honestly, the writing isn’t great, and no amount of lazy-screenwriting jokes can hide the fact that it is just that. There’s a Batman vs. Superman makeup between Deadpool and Cable, and these deus ex Machina collars that take away all mutant’s powers, a loveless shoe in that means Deadpool can die, then get immediately saved by (say it ain’t so) Time travel. The tried and tested ‘fix everything’ trope is healthy as ever, and in a fun post-credit scene we see Deadpool save his wife (which sort of undoes the entire plot right?) and take out both his previous iteration as Deadpool in X-Men Origins, and Ryan Reynolds himself agreeing to play Green Lantern. The underlying moral of the importance of family is lost in a masquerade of obscene violence and outdated references (RIP George Michael), and my personal hatred for Russel.
All said, while not redefining the genre by any standard, Deadpool 2 is a perfectly watchable film full of dark comedy and stunning violence, but unfortunately not much else.
By Jake Kuczogi