"You're a super-hero now, Bubba!"

Rating: 6/10 (17 November 2018)

After seeing the first Deadpool movie, I pretty much vowed that I would never watch a sequel because of all the vulgarity and nudity in the original. But then I thought, how can I be a Marvel movie completist without seeing this one, so I had to finally break down and catch it. Well, I wasn't as offended by this picture, as the use of the 'F' word seemed to be somewhat curtailed, and the nudity was removed except for that extremely juvenile scene in which Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) sprouted a young boy's legs. Oh, and Juggernaut's behind, but that was more gross than sexually explicit. Personally, I don't see how any of that adds to a movie's popularity, if it wasn't in there you'd never miss it. Where the picture excels is in the edgy humor and clever writing, the introduction of the X-Force characters a case in point. The only one in the story I couldn't warm up to was Russell/Firefist (Julian Dennison); for me, he had no charisma or likeability at all. Josh Brolin was surprisingly effective as Cable, even more so than Thanos in the Avengers franchise. Which leads me to consider, how lucky is it that a single actor gets to portray two iconic comic-book figures? It's like Ryan Reynolds showing up in both the Marvel and DC comic book universes on film, which by the way, led to a cool after credits gag dissing the Green Lantern persona like he did in the first movie. The one disappointment I had was not seeing Marvel comic book legend Stan Lee show up in this picture, or if he did have a cameo, I somehow missed it. However his name isn't in the list of cast credits, and with his recent passing just a few days ago on 11/12/18, his presence in future Marvel flicks will be sorely missed.
Oh yeah, and if you do an internet search on 'dubstep', the comments section of any hit will tell you that "Deadpool 2" sent the reader there. The power of pop culture.
Addendum**** 7-2-2019 - Upon rewatching the film today, I caught a Stan Lee tribute where his face is painted on the side of a huge building with the notation: "R.I.P. Stan Lee". It goes by real quick during one of Deadpool's action scenes.