If only it didn't try so hard

Rating: 7/10 (26 May 2018)

Disclaimer: I'm not a big fan of super-hero movies. It hurts me when all the cliches are thrown in the plot, and I've literally fallen asleep on a few occasions during intense fight scenes.
That being said,I really enjoyed the first Deadpool. It seemed like a breath of fresh air and I LOVED the sarcasm, wit and humor. I think this second attempt is slightly weaker, although true to its original story. The characters are pretty damn interesting and more complex than in most movies of the genre. Deadpool is a jerk with some redeeming qualities (or maybe a good guy with some serious impulse control issues, that's for each to decide), and the bad guy actually has a backstory that makes the viewer really sympathize with his plight.
Now for the negatives. There were multiple times when the jokes left the audience in a theater of about 50 people silent. There were some really crass jokes that I thought had no place in the script (making fun of other people's appearance for no good reason is rarely a good idea, imho). And believe me, I have a pretty high tolerance for all sorts of comedy and usually enjoy pushing humor to the limit. But these jokes in the Deadpool script were simply not funny and left you wondering why the writers were trying so hard. Which takes me to my second point, that throughout the movie I had a nagging impression this movie was too much of an audience-pleaser to the point where it just didn't feel as fresh and well-crafted as the first Deadpool. In the name of the absurd and the parody, the risk is to deliver a mindless sequence of jokes that would address certain sensibilities/expectations of the audience without any kind of originality.
Anyhow, I had quite a few laughs and my favorite scenes involved the X-Force dying after skydiving and pretty much any scene with the blind lady and the Indian taxi driver.
Overall, pretty fun for a Friday night out, but nothing too special.