Deadpool, dramedy, dismemberment 65+%

Rating: 7/10 (8 June 2018)

The sequel to Deadpool begins with a bang...or should I say "boom"? It then works backwards to how things arrived at this point, which is rather apt, given how the story will mirror this narrative device later on in the film. Deadpool 2 also revels in the whimper too...it must have the daggiest soundtrack ever used, anywhere...which isn't a bad thing. Right at the start, you hear Air Supply's classic soft rock love song "All out of love"...which I like. Really like. And I'm not just saying that because I'm an Australian. Didn't mind "Escape (The piÃ±a colada Song)" either...but not so much.
It takes something like 15 minutes, I think, for the opening credits to start playing, and I regret not paying attention to this right away, because the film refuses to take this part seriously. If you've ever seen a James Bond film, you'll appreciate the pop-cultural references that Deadpool 2 provides.
The plot of the movie concerns Deadpool being at a low ebb and taking it upon himself to help a troubled teenage mutant (think X-Men material) who flirting with the dark side, is he. That teenager's accent caught my attention...I wondered if he was Australian...or a New Zealander...fortunately Deadpool cleared that up for me...eventually.
Even though I hadn't seen Deadpool since the cinema release and I had only seen it once, I didn't really feel out of the loop like I did with the latest Avengers' movie, "Avengers: Infinity war". Speaking of "Avengers: Infnity war", since it's not around at the moment, I'll just say that it was good that Deadpool 2 had humour which actually worked. Its batting average for jokes was good, if not quite Bradmanesque. Cf. "Avengers: Infinity war", which seems to be have been written by Marvel's C Team's 2nd XI's bench players. The humour is quite postmodern, as in it erases the boundary between the real world and the fictional world of the film...I believe that phrase "breaking the fourth wall" is another way of saying this.
One character (metaphorically speaking...since I didn't know nearly all of them) left me feeling a little out of the loop...the bloke from the future...made me wonder if I had missed some film where he appears. He's kinda, sorta introduced to the audience after he's been carrying on for a while. The Marvel Comic Universe (MCU) does seem to rely on having a fan base which requires no introduction to its characters...so none is given.
Another disorientating feature of the film was the use of dream-like sequences. There's more than one. And it made me wonder if more of the film was actually a dream-like state than I had thought...which I don't think it was...but it would be have been good if this wasn't as confusing in the film as it turned out to be.
As for the ending...it does make me wonder if there will be consequences for other MCU franchises, even though I haven't gotten the impression that the Deadpool franchise really sets the agenda for that, as the other MCU franchises do. Also, the ending would seem to require a sequel which directly follows on from the events of this film, although that didn't create any issues for me, as far as feeling tricked into being forced to watch the next one (I got enough out of Deadpool 2 to keep sticking with the franchise, whereas after having seen "Avengers: Infinity war", I'm inclined to bail on that franchise...perhaps).
Deadpool was tracking as a 65% kind of movie to me, meaning with my harsh rounding practice I would have given it 6 stars out of 10. However, given that I liked the ending, I've decided to add a "+" to the 65%, in order for the film to graduate to a score of 7 stars out of 10.
N.B. It should be noted that this film is very violent at times, with accompanying gore...not for the squeamish at these moments.
Random observations:
* Check out what Deadpool writes on a cereal box in one scene
* Near the end of the movie, it seems a plot hole to me that Deadpool knew what the guy from the future had done...well, not so much a plot hole, as an obvious difficulty in making such story elements coherent... "paradox" would be a good word for it, I think
* Lead...I don't think that lead has the properties attributed to it in this film by Deadpool...as with my previous point, I think it's just basically another example of Hollywood type narrative devices which don't really stand up to too much scrutiny...suspend disbelief, in other words
* Also near the end of the movie, when Deadpool is supine, an expression does appear on his face, momentarily, which is uncannily reminiscent of how the Michael Scott character in the US version of "The office" would mug. Doubt that that was intentional, just noticeable (to me).
* What's a Jimmy Chunga? Not sure that I spelt that right, either...tried looking it up in the first week of July...didn't find it in the script, but I see my mistake, the word I'm after is "chimichanga"...and I still have no idea what it means in the context...a meaningless catchphrase invented for the film?
* Note too self: look up "Juggernaut" on Wikipedia. I think that Deadpool says that that is his favourite Marvel character...or something...which I can't quite remember. Also look up "Captain Marvel"...I came across this character when exploring something related to "Avengers: Infinity war".