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Movie Review | Deadpool 2
Movie Summary: Foul-mouthed mutant mercenary Wade Wilson (AKA. Deadpool), brings together a team of fellow mutant rogues to protect a young boy of supernatural abilities from the brutal, time-travelling mutant, Cable. (IMDb)
Yeah, it’s alright.
Oh, you want more than that? Fine, but that first line really does sum it up. Deadpool 2 is certainly above average, but it just keeps stopping itself from being much more than that and is ultimately not as satisfying as the first film, nor as memorable.
There’s the clichéd saying of ‘less is more’, but the creative team behind this film clearly don’t agree as this film contains so much ‘more’, whether it should be there or not. The success of the first Deadpool clearly encouraged the studio to back this movie with more money and more freedom, but probably a little too much of both.
First up, this film does look better than the first and the increased budget is certainly evident from the improved visual effects, even if they aren’t perfect throughout. All the action is bigger and more spectacular than the first film, although often not as creative, with powers changing as needed to fit the scene, rather than making the action work to fit the powers.
It’s not as funny as the first film either, with the best material here either a repetition or variation of what we’ve already seen. There is some good new stuff, but Deadpool 2 really does suffer from a lack of originality or freshness in its humour that is almost inevitable in a comedy sequel.
Oh, and just to add: I’ve seen a lot of people love, love, love the end credit scenes and hold them up as the best ever, but I’d narrow it down to funniest end credit sequences in a superhero film. 22 Jump Street still has the best end credits to any film I’ve ever seen, and the first Avengers film still has the best combo of ‘setting up future story’ and ‘comedy scene’ for superhero movies.
There’s also a small issue with the dialogue here. Now, in the first Deadpool, there was plenty of foul language and crude references, but they always felt organic and part of the character. This time, it feels like the script was written with the characters helping to move the plot along, and the swearing and insults being added because it’s a Deadpool movie.
Or, in other words, a lot of the jokes would’ve worked perfectly fine without any cursing at all, and the swearing was added to make it more ‘adult’. Instead, it reduces the strength of the characters and makes them feel ‘written’, rather than like people who swear naturally as part of their language use.
The action also suffers from this rather teenager-like view of what makes something ‘adult’, with the gore level being upped significantly amid a sea of dismemberments. Body parts come off so easily that it feels like the people being ripped apart are closer to mannequins than living beings and detracts from the fights being taken seriously.
To add to the ‘more is less’ opinion I have of this film, it feels really long. It’s under two hours in length, but both MCU films of 2018 so far (Black Panther and Avengers: Infinity War) are longer and feel much, much shorter. More than once during Deadpool 2, it felt like the climax would be soon and it just kept going and going – the pacing is really off and I’m not overly keen on re-watching this as a result.
Finally, there’s the issue of the film undermining its central theme with its own existence: avoiding spoilers as best I can, Deadpool delivers a speech at the end to try and prevent someone from making a certain decision, but every single scene of this film and the first one stands in complete opposition to this dialogue and it simply doesn’t work, leaving what is intended to be the emotional climax feeling rather lacklustre.
Deadpool 2 is a strange beast of a film that suffers from a lack of cohesion compared to the first film, instead choosing to revel in absurdity and silliness. It’s an enjoyable enough way to spend a couple of hours, but the poor pacing and lack of underlying emotional substance means one viewing will probably be enough.
