Manages to match the tone and style of the original

Rating: 9/10 (24 May 2018)

STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Saturday Night * Monday Morning
Mercenary Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds), as his alter-ego Deadpool, has been travelling the world fighting crime and taking on the bad guys. However, when girlfriend Vanessa (Morena Baccarin) announces she is pregnant, he plans a new life and settling down with her, only to lose her at the hands of some vengeful associates of some bad guys he tackled. Plunged into a depressed slump, he is pulled out of it when Russell (Julian Dennison), a young boy with super fire powers, lashes out at the brutal headmaster (Eddie Marsan) who's abusing him. Deadpool must then protect him from the time travelling Cable (Josh Brolin) who wants to eliminate Russell for what he becomes in the future...
The 2016 comic book caper Deadpool was one of those cult, sleeper hits that was practically crying out for a sequel. Rather than splurge one out less than twelve months after the first one came out, director David Leitch has given time for that film to absorb into the cultural consciousness, and the result is a film that hits a higher note because of it. This time around, it feels on more dynamic a scope, with a more ambitious script that wants to crank the fun level up another notch. And, with everyone on board in on the act and having fun, the result is for the most part a resounding success.
Returning in the lead role, Reynolds is once again suitably snarky and cool as the wise-cracking renegade, and the films tongue-in-cheek vibe is once again suitably in check. Like last time, it's loaded with pop culture references, some of which have developed since the last film (namely involving George Michael!) With all this, it's surprising that the film chooses to include such dark themes as grief and revenge in it, which may have been included in the last film, but not to such a sharp extent. It starts like this from the off-set, followed by a bizarre opening credits parody of James Bond films that feels ambiguous.
It's still great fun, though, not taking itself seriously at all for the most part, with some fantastic action sequences, cool, funky new characters and just generally being a very colourful and entrancing follow up. A third and final instalment should be okay on the basis of this. ****