An Incredibly Enjoyable Sequel That Really Delivers

Rating: 9/10 (20 May 2018)

I had high hopes going into this film, but also some worries that they'd make Deadpool too much of what he is. But they really impressed me with what they made. Deadpool 2 does everything the first did, and a little more.
Despite what I've heard other people say about the choice of killing of Vanessa at the beginning of the movie, I actually thought it was a great plot element/motivation that didn't feel set up or forced in any way. Although, an issue I have with the aftermath of this, is that I feel like Wade, emotionally, gets over it too quickly. Fortunately, this does lead into some really mesmerizing and beautiful scenes of Wade communicating with Vanessa in the afterlife (it may have been consciously). It's also nice to see them take a real focus on Wade's personal life, which transitions into the main plot of the movie.
Wade has to protect a Mutant teenager named Russell, of which Wade feels sympathy for since the headmaster of the building Russell is held at tortures/abuses him. This also makes Wade reflect on his past with his own father who wasn't such a great father figure for him. However, Wade and Russell are arrested and are put devices around their necks which doesn't allow them to use their powers/mutations. We see a different side of Wade in the prison as he is no longer sympothizing with Russell, but rather relenting him since he gets Wade in trouble and severely hurt by other inmates. The relationship between thee two characters constantly change throughout the film, but make sense since Russell is only 15-16 and has still not fully matured. I liked the prison sequences and thought they worked well on developing the eventual change on which side Russell chooses to take, which is going against Wade and wanting to kill the headmaster. Overall, I wasn't a big fan of Russell in the movie really at all, but he was given enough character development that I gave at least a couple cares in the world about him.
When Cable enters the picture, it takes the film to a WHOLE new level story wise. Cable's come from the future to kill Russell because in the future, Russell kills Cable's wife and daughter. I do feel that Cable was a bit underdeveloped and I felt myself really wanting to see more of him the film, but it *is* a DEADPOOL movie, and they're saving that for the eventual 'X-Force' film that's supposed to be coming out. Never the less, the time when Cable *is* in the movie, he is completely badass and did feel properly used. And this leads into the best sequence of the movie, the car chase. The scene is really well-choreographed/directed, and this goes for nearly all the other action scenes in the entire movie. And I wouldn't expect any less from the John Wick director. The Kill Bill-like scenes in the beginning with Deadpool slicing people's limbs off especially felt like the John Wick style. Cable is really awesome in this sequence and it's so cool to see him in this movie in general.
The chemistry between Zazie Beetz (Domino) and Ryan Reynolds is really great and I wish we saw more of her as well. But again, they'll probably explore her character more later. She stole a lot of the scenes she was in and fought off her enemies almost effortlessly. This sequence of Deadpool forming his team also includes one of my favorite jokes, while talking about Josh Brolin/Cable, "He's short! 5'11"! Not like in the comics!". And of course Peter, who saw the ad, and thought it looked fun. And then they kill of the whole team (excluding Domino and Deadpool). Yep. They just all die while jumping out of a plane with parachutes. That was absolutely hilarious!
The ending is I guess a bit cliche-ish, but still a good moment between the characters.
The comedy, as expected, was really, REALLY funny and landed almost every time. The opening and end credits scenes are what really made me almost choke on my food . Deadpool going back in time after given a time traveling mechanism and killing the terrible 2009 version of Deadpool from X-Men Origins: Wolverine and also killing the real life Ryan Reynolds version of himself about to read the 'Green Lantern' script were ingenious and made me laugh so hard.
Also, a cool little tidbit they put in there was as the X-Force were jumping out of the helicopter, everyone unintentionally formed an 'X' when everyone's bodies lines up. That was a nice little detail.
But overall, I do personally think this is better than it's predecessor and worth seeing twice in the theater.
RATING: 8.8/10