All that you expected, and more besides

Rating: 7/10 (22 May 2018)

Deadpool (2016) carved out a new sub-genre in superhero movies: satirical, post-modern, subversive, self-referential, and (incidentally) R-rated for over-the-top violence. And of course, style and flair to burn or else it wouldn't have worked. And of course neither Deadpool 1 or 2 would work without being able to build on a legacy of 'mainstream' superhero films; they would just be too bizarre to stand on their own. Both Deadpools are easier to follow if you already know a fair bit about the X-Men universe that they draw from. But even so the script plays fast and loose with a number of the characters including Cable, Yukio, Juggernaut, and Deadpool himself, none of whom exactly resemble their comic book sources or backstory. Nevertheless this feels like the role that Ryan Reynolds has been looking for his whole career -- a likable and talented guy who just hadn't had much luck before this.
The plot, such as it is, walks quite a tightrope between an actual serious storyline on one hand, and hyperviolent/satirical/absurdist comedy on the other, simultaneously taking itself seriously and just the opposite. Somehow this works, thanks to the smart, snappy dialog and constantly motoring action so that you never get a chance to stop and think -- you're just reacting to the next clever gag, setup, or action scene. Great thing about the human brain is that it can keep at least two contradictory viewpoints going at the same time, and this movie takes full advantage of that. One reviewer remarked that it's like Deadpool (the hero) exists both inside and outside the film at the same time.
Compared with the first Deadpool, this one takes everything further. The violence is so over-the-top that it's cartoonishly absurd -- think Quentin Tarantino but more so, and without the slow buildups. Wonderfully stylish: as an example, spectacular collisions happens, bodies fly in slo-mo, and all to the strains of an Enya song. It works. The first Deadpool routinely "broke the fourth wall"; this one somehow manages to break the third, second, and first walls at times -- not sure how to put it but that's what it felt like.
And about the mid-credits scene sequence, which in some sense the whole movie acted as a setup for -- it's incredible and beyond absurd. How to describe it? surreal? solipsistic? words fail me but absolutely don't leave the theater before you see it.
Minor quibbles: too much use of Colossus and not enough of the perversely charming Teenage Warhead. They overused Deadpool's impossible-to-kill powers -- it was used only as necessary in #1 but here it kind of becomes a running joke. He's blown to bits (literally!), riddled with bullets, snapped in half, torn in half, and a bunch of other things almost as gruesome. And Cable wasn't developed enough despite a lot of screen time. But I really enjoyed Zazie Beetz as Domino, who clearly demonstrates that luck is indeed a superpower, but hand-to-hand combat expertise also gives it a boost.
I wonder what the inevitable Deadpool 3 will be like. Where can they go from here?