The review for Deadpool was the first I formally wrote here, and now, as it goes, there’s been a sequel.
Now, my main complaint for Deadpool 1 was that the story was mindless and overly simplistic. I am pleased to note that, for this sequel, they made sure to have an interesting and compelling story. It’s nothing mind-blowing, per se, but it’s far from mediocre. Josh Brolin’s turn as the time-traveling cyborg Cable is a sort of foil for Deadpool’s shenanigans, and Cable’s blasé attitude is almost a mockery of everything in Deadpool 1. Colossus seems to serve a similar role, but less directly. Anyway, the story is surprisingly multifaceted yet not especially convoluted; there is always plenty going on and a good roster of dissimilar characters. Zazie Beets as Domino stands out gloriously as she shows her strange luck-based abilities. There are some others whose very existence is a sort of spoiler, so I won’t put focus on them, but suffice to say Deadpool 2 is a movie chock full of amusing and weird people.
I suppose there’s a question that should be considered paramount for this kind of film; “is it funny?” Well, yes. Deadpool 2 is hilarious. Not every gag lands perfectly, but I found it consistently both engaging and funny. That’s very subjective, but there’s enough clever humor sprinkled throughout the run-time that I’d expect most to be similarly pleased. There are many, many cultural references, most of which are very modern. There was even a joke about the fact that Josh Brolin also played Thanos in the recent Infinity War. I was impressed at the ingenuity of the wit, and its breadth; some jokes were purely audio, or purely visual, or a strongly creative mixture. It is lovely to see such a variance in delivery for a new comedy film.
The camerawork is good albeit not spectacular. There are a few cool shots going up and around various structures, and it’s inventive enough to be interesting, but I was never blown away by any of it. Still, it’s better than most films I have seen recently, without a doubt.
I found the effects to be impeccable, especially during some of the action scenes. Cable has some very interesting technology, which he employs regularly, and the visuals accompanying the bizarre events were palpably effective. There isn’t much for me to say about them otherwise. The effects aren’t amazing, but they work pretty well for what the film needs.
The music is actually amazing. Several songs are used to tie into the film perfectly, often apparently existing just to be their own jokes. It is almost as if Deadpool himself broke the fourth wall to compose his own soundtrack, and this is really, incredibly fitting. I don’t even like most of the music stylistically, but I cannot deny the efficacy of this movie’s music.
This movie is Wondrous. It ranks higher than its predecessor, and I find that rare for sequels in general. Every aspect of this movie is pretty good. I would expect that the filmmakers noticed the issues with the first film, and strove to correct them. Most of the jokes land tremendously, and the characters are very likable. People don’t really need to see this promptly, but if you enjoyed the original, you will probably enjoy this plenty.
