Twice the Deadpool, twice the fun.

Rating: 10/10 (8 January 2019)

Given how the post-credit scene at the end of the first Deadpool film teased a sequel, I honestly got quite gritty as given how much I adored the first Deadpool film, I couldn't wait to see it so once the trailers for Deadpool 2 dropped, I grew even more ecstatic to see the film but I ended up seeing Avengers: Infinity War instead. I didn't watch Deadpool 2 until a few months later and much like the first film, I absolutely loved it. From its strong direction and non-stop humor to its marvelous action scenes and top-notch acting, Deadpool 2 is another home run for comic book films as a whole.
The film opens with Deadpool as known as Wade Wilson blowing himself up following a traumatic event. The film then fasts forwards two years where Wade fails to kill one of his targets and celebrates his anniversary with Vanessa where the two decide to start a family of their own. That night, the target that Wade failed to kill tracks him down and in the following shootout and kills Vanessa only to have Wade kill him in retaliation. Blaming himself for Vanessa's death, Wade blows himself up a few weeks later. Upon seeing a vision of her in the afterlife, Deadpool's various body parts are reassembled by Colossus and as a form of mending his broken heart, Deadpool agrees to join the X-men. Soon after, he, Colossus, and Negasonic Teenage Warhead respond to a faceoff between authorities and a mutant named Russell aka Firefist. After an incident where Deadpool kills one of the staff members, both he and Firefist are locked up in a prison for mutants. Meanwhile, a time-traveling cyborg more solid named Cable arrives from the future to kill Russell before he murders Cables' family. He then breaks into the jail and attacks Russell while Wade attempts to defend the boy but gets his ass handed to him. Wade then falls off a cliff and lands in a freezing lake, just before he dies, Wade has another vision of Vanessa which tells him to help Russell. Now, Deadpool must put his own team together to stop Cable from killing the boy.
More to the point, the movie doesn't go for the humor over an adequate story rhythm unlike a movie like the 2016 Ghostbusters remake. Deadpool 2 never tries to alter its story just so it can throw in a few more jokes into the film just for the sake of it. The jokes are there to serve the plot, not to dominate it. Sure, the gags are hysterical, but they aren't practically callous or critical. There's never a feeling that the film is or always will be a deconstruction of superhero movies in that it really doesn't have anything interesting or thought-provoking to say about the genre unlike The Dark Knight or Captain America: Civil War apart from admitting that most moviegoers are genre-blind when it comes to comic book movies but Deadpool 2 doesn't need that to be a great movie. Not all superhero movies need to be deep and pretentious as the genre really doesn't lead itself to that area of filmmaking with a few exceptions but Deadpool 2's real purpose seems to just be a fun movie without the need to talk down to its audience. Understandably, this is never a problem in Deadpool 2. As a matter of fact, what's most astonishing about the movie, especially in this age of reboots, sequels, and remakes, is the respective ability with which the movie tells a basic story. For all the gags about genitals and pop culture, there's always quite a few scenes of genuine emotion that do work much like in Avengers: Infinity War as do the characters in both films. Easily the strongest point of the MCU are the characters and how they grow and develop over the course of the films, Deadpool 2 is the same way. The characters here are nicely fleshed out, their arcs and ambitions are clear to the viewer. Despite all the humor, there's a layer of attractive and compelling depth that's not hard to find if you look closely enough.
Much like the first Deadpool movie, Deadpool 2 has been seen as a deconstruction of superhero movies as well as a comedic masterpiece and while that's a fair assessment to make of the movie, it's really a little bit of both to me. The movie feels most functional because it works so well as a basic and genuine comic book film with a whole lot more gore added in and just a pinch more self-alertness sprinkled in to give the film that extra kick. Of course, to say that Deadpool 2 isn't funny would be like saying Riders of the Lost Ark isn't an action classic or that Citizen Kane isn't one of the greatest films ever put to screen as the movie is an absolute laugh riot. Every joke that comes at the viewer is a gut-buster every time. Right when the opening scene starts up where they take jabs at director David Leitch as the guy who killed John Wick's dog in a jovial fashion, it's obvious that Deadpool 2 holds no pop culture subject sacred. During one action scene, Wade attacks Deadpool creator Rob Liefeld by saying he's a guy who can't draw feet, referencing Liefeld's erratic drawing style. Hugh Jackman gets a ton of jokes aimed at him throughout the course of the movie from Deadpool flipping the bird to the film Logan and how it's just cashing in on his R rating. Some of the other jokes aimed at Jackman include a wind-up toy with Wolverine impaled on a tree stake and a reference to Hugh's role in Les Miserables. Much like the first film, there are also some great visual jokes directed at the X-men such as when Wade claims to have never seen any of the team only to have a room full of them right behind him. It's a fantastic visual joke but also tires Deadpool's world back to that of the X-men nicely. Lastly, there are a ton of jokes directed at both the MCU and DCEU from the jabs at Batman V. Superman to Deadpool calling one of his teammates' Black Widow and calling Cable Thanos which were some of the best jokes in the film for me. Often, the set-ups for the jokes are even jokes themselves which makes the movie all the more fun. To add to that, the screenplay by Reese, Wernick and Reynolds is intelligent and funny as the dialog seems to carry all the action upon its shoulders and is laugh-out-loud comical as Deadpool's chain of thought speaking technique helpfully explains the films' events to the viewer not to mention the continuous fourth wall breaking that Deadpool is famous for makes the film have a very self-referential feeling to it, making it even funnier.
Furthermore, there's no disagreeing that the strangeness of a comic book film turning a d-list X-Men villain called Black Tom Cassidy into a frequent gag with certain attention being given to the characters enduring comic book history. Deadpool 2 is certainly and clearly made by people who have actually read comic books or at the very least, understand them as opposed to making the film a total mockery of its source material like Fant4sic was. When Deadpool meets The Juggernaut, he specifically calls out the names of several comic books into his fanboy blubbering. Along with that, the movie never forgets that it is, in fact, an X-men sequel, not just inconsistency but also in its approach to the core themes of the X-men comics and how the film wears its progressiveness up its shirt shelves. There's a simple storytelling approach that Deadpool 2 uses in its acceptance of the eccentric hidden agenda from the offhand references to a strap-on to the remarkable moment of Deadpool accepting Negasonic Teenage Warhead's girlfriend, Yukio. Unlike other major Hollywood films, Deadpool 2 never makes its agenda the main focus of the film but uses it subtlety to assist the story at hand.
There has been an argument that Deadpool 2 is the best X-men film to date and while I still think X-men: Days of Future Past, X-men: First Class, Logan, and the first two X-men films are far superior in terms of characters and themes, that's not to say that this film isn't great in its own right. This is most apparent in the way that the story discovers itself undoing around the Essex Home of Mutant Rehabilitation which is yet a further inside joke poking fun at the change of heart rehabilitation which also makes the joke even funnier. Upon seeing the film, it's also clear that both director David Leitch, as well as the production crew, have read the Deadpool comic books given the number of story nods from various X-men and Deadpool storylines which do make the film a bit more tongue and cheek than most other comic book films. Even the tiniest details allude to four-color developments. When Deadpool brings together his cutting-edge counter team to the X-men, the filmmakers are cautious to include clever references to the diverse incarnations of the superhero team known as X-Force which is refreshing as well as hilarious to see onscreen.
Also, Deadpool 2 also works surprisingly well as an action film with a somewhat direct story and dependable characters with clear motivations. Given director David Leitch's background in codirecting the first two John Wick movies, it's hardly surprising that this guy knows how to shoot action scenes with his trademark bright and organized style that works wonders for the movie. As with the films in the MCU, the action setpieces in Deadpool 2 are loads of fun to watch and impressive given how bloated some action setpieces in certain superhero movies have gotten. The opening montage of Deadpool slicing, hacking and killing gangers and thugs all over the world is breathtaking to behold while the battle between Cable and Wade in the prison is nicely shot and nicely put together but the best action setpiece the movie gives us is the trunk chase where Domino and Deadpool are busy trying to drive a prison truck and battling Cable at the same time which makes for one of the best chase sequences in any action or comic book movie and what's even more wonderful is that although the viewer knows that the scene they are watching is all CGI but it does feel realistic in every possible way.
The story and character arches in the film don't offer much in terms of surpr