Review – Deadpool 2 is the Family Guy of superhero movies

The first Deadpool was truly a breath of fresh air. Released with very few expectations back in 2016, the Ryan Reynolds-led film was a brash and irreverent piss take on the bloated superhero franchises, easily earning it’s R-rating with its gratuitous violence and f-bombs. By constantly breaking the fourth wall for Deadpool to directly address the audience and poke fun at his own film, Deadpool was a relief from the over-stuffed Marvel and DC entries, and proved that there was a huge market for an R-rated superhero film (if it was done right).

Two years later, Deadpool is back, with a much bigger budget and a larger cast of supporting actors to play off of. Directed by David Leitch (Atomic Blonde), Deadpool 2 begins with a montage of Wade Wilson / Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) taking on multitudes of villains across the globe, in a sort of James Bond on LSD sequence of blood and destruction, while Reynolds' voice-over mentions that this is a "family film." In spite of that juxtaposition, much like any other recent superhero film, in essence Deadpool 2 is about family, and Wade Wilson's search for belonging.

After an extremely cliché death sends Wilson into a suicidal tailspin, the X-Men's Colossus (Stefan Kapicic under a CGI sheath of metal) brings him to Professor Xavier's estate in order to groom him to become an X-Men trainee. On their first mission out they encounter the teenage mutant Firefist (the hilarious Julian Dennison from Hunt for the Wilderpeople), who is being hunted by a time-travelling cyborg soldier named Cable (played by Josh Brolin, who was somehow allowed to play separate pivotal roles in two Marvel movies released within a month of each other).

In order to combat Cable, Deadpool realizes he needs some backup, which results in the creation of X-Force, a motley team of characters that includes Domino (Atlanta's Zazie Beetz) who has the power of luck on her side, and Peter (Rob Delaney), a middle-aged schlub with no superpowers who just wants to be part of a team. Their first outing as a team is the highlight of the film as their mission implodes in a spectacularly gruesome fashion, before leading into Domino's luck-based action sequence, which is easily the best action scene of the film.

Led by Reynolds' hyper-caffeinated, cartoonish take on the character, Deadpool 2 moves along at a quick pace, with jokes and one-liners being thrown out constantly throughout the film's 2-hour running time. While the film tries to imbue Deadpool and much of his supporting cast with some gravitas, it's hard to take anything here too seriously given the generally goofy tone of the movie -- it's akin to trying to give Bugs Bunny an emotional arc in a vintage Looney Tunes short.

In many ways Deadpool 2 is an improvement over the original. The action sequences are more elaborate, the supporting cast all mesh well together and manage to stand out (not an easy feat in a superhero movie), and in general the jokes hit more than they miss, especially in the hilarious post-credits scene, which is better than anything in the actual movie.

It's just a shame that this sequel didn't take more chances, especially considering how unique the first Deadpool was. While breaking the fourth wall and acknowledging that Deadpool was aware of pop culture was an interesting take for the first film, here it feels like a recycled joke that we've seen one too many times already.

A little bit of fan service is a nice tip of the hat to the diehard fans that pushed for a Deadpool film for years, but Deadpool 2 often goes overboard, stuffing in too many nods to the larger X-Men universe and other superhero films instead of making jokes that actually make sense within the context of the film. It's essentially Family Guy syndrome -- constantly referencing something doesn't necessarily make it funny, a notion the filmmakers here unfortunately never grasp.