First Hit: This film is fun, irreverent and filled with out-loud laughs.
I thoroughly enjoyed the original Deadpool although many other reviewers didn’t. This one is even better and Ryan Reynolds (as Wayne Wade and alter ego Deadpool) knows how to make the kind of snarky pointed quips, some even at the camera, that bring this film to life.
The opening sequence does a great job of setting things up. We see Deadpool on a tear fighting for the downtrodden and beleaguered. After this burst of energy, he lays down on barrels of highly flammable liquid and blows himself up.
Bingo, we flash back four and a half months, to learn why he blew himself up. Wayne Wade was becoming family oriented and his wife Vanessa (Morena Baccarin) had decided that it was time to think about having children.
However, plans can change quickly and in this story they do as well. With single minded focus we see the reason why he goes on a crime fighting killing spree and decides to blow himself up. However, be that as it may, he decides that he must help Russell (Julian Dennison) a boy who has super powers of destroying things and people with fire.
Wade sees that he’s been physically abused, and this abuse might cause him to simply retaliate and become addicted to his ability to kill others at will. Russell teams up with Colossus to protect him as he goes after his abuser.
Wade sees that he needs help, so he recruits Domino (Zazie Beetz), Cable (Josh Brolin / Nathan Summers), Negasonic Teenage Warhead (Brianna Hildebrand), Vanisher (Brad Pitt), Zeitgeist (Bill Skarsgard), Weasel (T. J. Miller), and a whole host of others who end up not getting very far in the overall quest.
The scene of Wade choosing the team was funny as was their subsequent demise. All the characters had a quirkiness about them that made associated dialogue enhance their screen presence. What also worked about this film is that it has heart. There is a heart theme running through the scenes, if you can see through the pointed jokes.
I wish all Marvel and DC films brought this level of fun to them.
Reynolds is perfect in this role. I love how he carries a particular attitude of wise acre, yet with thoughtfulness. Baccarin was strong in her limited role. Brolin was excellent and appropriately tough as Cable. Beetz was superb as the strong supportive woman whose super power was luck. Dennison was very good as the young boy, tired of being picked on and wanting to get revenge. Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick and Reynolds wrote a quirky fun script. David Leitch did an excellent job of making this film work. The visuals were strong, the fight scenes were well choreographed, and it seemed like it was probably a joy to make.
Overall: This is a fun, full of adventurous action, film.