It feels a bit weird and inherently dishonest to discuss any studio-backed superhero movie in terms of being a ‘surprise hit,’ yet this is how 2016’s Deadpool is generally regarded. Though being officially part of the X-Men franchise and sporting a whopping budget ($58 million may be low by modern blockbuster standards, but it’s still a fuck-ton of money), the big screen take on one of the most idiosyncratic and non-family friendly Marvel Comics characters had endured an uphill struggle to the screen, and was thought to be a bit of a risk for 20th Century Fox. In addition, it was something of a make-or-break moment for leading man Ryan Reynolds, who – in the wake of many high profile misfires, which he himself is usually the first to take pot-shots at (and does again in Deadpool 2) – surely wouldn’t have survived professionally with yet another box office bomb. Of course, this wasn’t how things turned out, and after going down a storm with audiences and critics alike, Deadpool exceeded all expectations by becoming the highest-earning film in the entire X-Men franchise to date; an even more eye-opening feat given that it’s R/15-rated, which by studio logic typically means lower box office returns.
So, by contrast with its predecessor, Deadpool 2 arrives with some significant expectations on its shoulders. This isn’t always a great starting point for a sequel, and as we’ve seen from the Kick-Ass and Kingsman follow-ups, it’s all too easy to try to follow the same rock-em-shock-em routine a second time and come out smelling of manure instead of roses. Deadpool 2 has also had some pretty significant behind the scenes scandals to recover, first with original director Tim Miller walking over the old ‘creative differences,’ then rather more significantly with the on-set death of stunt performer SJ Harris, under reported conditions which don’t reflect well on the production. On top of all that, the #MeToo movement has seen some unsavoury allegations made about co-star TJ Miller, leading some to question his involvement in the sequel.
Happily, Deadpool 2 proves to be a more than worthy successor. It may slip ever so slightly into the Iron Man 2 trap of concentrating too much of its energy into setting up further films – nor is this the only standard sequel pitfall it stumbles into (which we’ll touch on later in the spoilery final paragraphs) – but it also does what all the best sequels do: that which ain’t broken doesn’t get fixed, and everything else gets cranked up a few notches. It won’t convert anyone who didn’t like the first film, but somehow I doubt that was ever too great a concern.
We join our red-clad, indestructible anti-hero Deadpool/Wade Wilson (Reynolds, duh) at something of a personal crossroads. Circumstances see him somewhat unwillingly drafted into the X-Men; although once again, this primarily means him teaming up with Colossus (Stefan Kapicic) and Negasonic Teenage Warhead (Brianna Hildebrand). His first X-assignment involves a troubled 14-year old mutant named Russell (Julian Dennison), who sports that ever-potent combination of pyrokinesis and severe emotional issues. Deadpool being Deadpool, things don’t go as smoothly as hoped, but soon enough there’s an even bigger and deadlier spanner in the works in the form of Cable (Josh Brolin), a bad-tempered, partially cybernetic mutant from a few decades in the future, who has come back in time Terminator-style to kill Russell before future atrocities can occur. Unwilling to play the goody two-shoes, but realising he can’t let the kid die, Deadpool sets out to form a team of his own which he casually dubs X-Force; super-powered mutants who’ll fight evil just like the X-Men, but will be prepared to leave more bodies and/or body parts in their wake.
Given the introduction of all these new characters – and I haven’t even touched on Zazie Beetz as Domino yet – it’s feasible that those who are only casually familiar with the Marvel pantheon might feel daunted going in, with a not unreasonable fear of forgetting who’s who and struggling to keep track of it all, as has no doubt been the case for a sizeable portion of those flocking into Avengers: Infinity War (which I recommend, incidentally). Happily, Deadpool 2 carries over that other key element from the first film: major self-awareness, and a tendency to break the fourth wall. Once again, if you didn’t like that approach in the first Deadpool you probably won’t like it here, as it’s arguably even more prominent. Intriguingly, and by contrast with the original, Deadpool 2 sees Ryan Reynolds credited as co-writer alongside returning scribes Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick; one does have to wonder if this is just to account for the doubtless hours of ad-libs the actor threw into the mix. Most of the reference points are very on the nose for 2018, with more than a few pointed nods to both contemporary superhero cinema and the current political climate. No doubt some viewers will find this alienating – there’s a running joke relating to a specific form of music, and I’m enough of an old geezer to admit I really don’t know what they’re talking about – yet when the gags are landing this thick and fast, it doesn’t seem to matter too much if a few go over your head.
The loss of Tim Miller as director doesn’t seem to have hurt the film in any significant way. Unsurprisingly, given that Miller was replaced with David Leitch (John Wick/Atomic Blonde, lined up to direct Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham’s Fast & Furious spin-off movie next), the action sequences here are of an even higher calibre. Yet for the most part, the human element doesn’t suffer; it’s all still very much driven by Reynolds’ performance, with plenty of space found for emotional content alongside the glib witticisms. New co-stars Brolin and Beetz prove highly agreeable additions to the Deadpool universe, both packing plenty of swagger and charisma, and more than up to the challenge with both the action and the comedy. Happily, we also spend a lot more time with Julian Dennison than I was expecting; if you haven’t seen his breakthrough turn in Taika Waititi’s Hunt For The Wilderpeople, please make amends post-haste, as Dennison’s performance as Russell is very much an amped-up, R-rated variation on that same persona.
All in all, then, Deadpool 2 is a great sequel, and anyone who enjoyed the first should be like a pig in shit with it. That having been said, I do have some relatively minor issues with the film, which – while they don’t sour it completely – do impede my enjoyment just a tad, and I imagine some readers may feel similarly. However, I can’t address these without getting into spoilers, so unless you’ve already seen the movie, or you can live with knowing too much going in, please do not read on beyond this point.
You might notice I haven’t mentioned one of the other key returning actors from Deadpool – Morena Baccarin, who plays Wade’s one true love, Vanessa. There’s a simple and sadly familiar reason for this: she’s killed off early on, her death serving to send Deadpool on the necessary downward spiral from which he must seek redemption by forming X-Force and saving Russell. In so doing, Deadpool 2 joins the already significant list of movie sequels which dump formerly pivotal female characters in the fridge (google ‘women in refrigerators’ if you’re unfamiliar). Historically, this over-familiar and usually lazy trope tends to come down to writers not knowing what to do with female characters, and even with the significant push for stronger female characters in modern films, it’s surprising just how frequently this still occurs, other recent offenders including Kingsman: The Golden Circle, Fast & Furious 8, and most recently Pacific Rim Uprising.
While this move does leave a bit of a bad taste in the mouth, Vanessa’s fate in Deadpool 2 certainly isn’t the worst example of a woman getting fridged on film (I know, that sentence seems riddled with euphemisms, but for once that honestly wasn’t my intention). So many times when sequels do away with returning female characters, it’s unceremonious and goes almost entirely unremarked; Kingsman 2 I found particularly irksome there. That definitely isn’t the case in Deadpool 2, though, as Vanessa’s loss really resonates through the entire film; Baccarin even makes a few appearances beyond her early exit, in some potentially sappy yet surprisingly effective dream/afterlife(?) sequences. Even so, I do feel there was a bit of a wasted opportunity there; given what a common trope the dead girlfriend is in sequels, and given Deadpool’s self-referential, fourth-wall breaking nature, if they were insistent on following that familiar path they might have been good enough to directly address the issue. I mean, Wade and Vanessa are planning to have a kid immediately before she’s killed; as clear a signpost as you could ever hope for, and yet they let it pass unremarked.
While I’m in full-on SJW/feminist ally mode, I might also note that the progressive points Deadpool 2 gets for giving Negasonic Teenage Warhead a girlfriend in Shioli Kutsuna’s Yukio doesn’t make up for how under-utilised both characters are, beyond that one simple recurring gag with Kutsuna which for some reason cracked me up every time. But then, significant hints are dropped that they’ll both be back in the X-Force movie, so all being well they’ll get more time to shine.
Deadpool 2 is in cinemas now.