Deadpool 2 has its highs and its lows. The film has one major selling point, it's the only superhero movie in its class. The sequel succeeds at bringing the same adult humor and gory action that the first one delivered, but sometimes, it feels forced. The Ryan Reynolds superhero flick starts where the last one left off, with Deadpool killing bad guys and being in love. When the love of his life agrees to have a child, the Merc with the Mouth gets emotional. While the first Deadpool had its emotional moments (the entire film is really a rom-com with action), the sequel tries to take the emotion to the next level. Gut-wrenching events force Deadpool to reevaluate his life, and soon the solo act has a team.
In Deadpool 2, X-Force plays a minor role. I expected to see more of Terry Crews’ Bedlam and the alien mutant Shatterstar, but their roles are minuscule. The real star of the film is Zazie Beetz. Beetz plays Domino, a mutant who effects the probabilities of occurrences around her to her gain. In other words, she can make herself really lucky. Domino eases her way around danger, making her every move look graceful and majestic. She is the perfect balance for Deadpool's chaotic brashness. Beetz deserves her own movie. Josh Brolin’s Cable is a great antagonist, the only problem was, the entire time he was speaking I just heard Thanos. Motion capture is one impressive piece of technology, because when they showed Cable’s face, all I saw was the Mad Titan. Even Deadpool slips up and calls him Thanos at one point. Maybe Avengers: Infinity War was just that good, but to see Brolin play a less interesting villain weeks after watching him wreck the Avengers was unsatisfying.
To be fair, the movie felt like a recycled version of the first film until Cable showed up. While he is less interesting than Thanos, he still fits well into Deadpool 2. His motivations are not too different, Cable was deeply affected by his past and so he seeks to alter how the future turns out. The time-traveling mutant is really the son of Cyclops and Jean Grey, and with a nod to “Essex” in the film, it will be amusing to see if they tie the Mr. Sinister storyline together properly in future films. In the comics, Mr. Sinister, real name Nathaniel Essex, creates a clone of Jean Grey who becomes pregnant with Cyclops’ child Cable. After being infected with a virus, young Cable is sent into the future where there is already a cure. Both Ryan Reynolds and director David Leitch have confirmed that an X-Force film is in development, so hopefully, they dive into that storyline.
If you enjoyed Deadpool, you’ll enjoy Deadpool 2. The two movies rely on the same type of humor to achieve laughs. When the jokes hit, you’ll be grasping your sides in laughter. When the jokes miss, which some will, you’ll be rolling your eyes repugnantly. Whoever did the music for the film needs to be replaced as well. Some of the music ties in with the jokes, but mostly, the superhero and villain themes sound like they were taken from an N64 video game. The dazzling horns for the hero and the haunting tunes for the bad guy are so transparent and trite that it dampens the excitement during some scenes. While the film isn’t bad, it isn’t amazing either. You’ll enjoy it for the humor and the action, and some of the twists will have you genuinely surprised as well. Truthfully though, Deadpool 2 feels like just another sequel, it simply has the benefit of being the only movie in its class.