Action/Sci-fi

DEADPOOL 2

CAST: Ryan Reynolds, Julian Dennison, Josh Brolin, Morena Baccarin, Stefan Kapicic, Zazie Beeetz

DIRECTION: David Leitch

3 and a half stars

 

 

 

 

 

Since the release of the first ‘Deadpool’ movie in 2016, we’ve come to embrace Deadpool as a kick-ass superhero, not because he repeatedly creates bloody mayhems or because of his superfast healing powers. We love him for the sar­casm and meta-humor he produces by taking jabs at superhero genre clichés and American pop culture. Leading star Ryan Reynolds has become so synonymous with this character that it’s difficult to watch him in any other movie without being reminded of Deadpool. The new film in the series is directed by David Leitch, who takes over from Tim Miller. But Leitch only elaborates on Miller’s style. ‘Deadpool 2’ feels like an extension of its predecessor, as Miller strums the same chord progression of sar­casm, mayhem and randomness, and in a juicier combo.

 

Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) aka Deadpool is tangled in his nine-to-five masked vigilante duty fighting the city’s toughest criminals. His personal life with girlfriend Vanessa (Morena Baccarin) is going great and they decide to start a family, until a personal tragedy throws Wade’s plans down the drain, turning this devil-may-care superhero into a sui­cidal freak. To shake him up, his old pal Colossus (Stefan Kapicic) welcomes him to the X-Men, as a trainee.

 

Then one day during duty call, Deadpool has to rescue an unsta­ble teenager mutant named Russell (Julian Dennison) but his reckless negotiation style lands him and the kid in a maximum security prison for mutants. Deadpool’s troubles multi­ply when Cable (Josh Brolin) makes an entry. To stop this time-traveling cyber-assassin, Deadpool resorts to his wacky ways to assemble his own team of avengers.

 

There isn’t any novelty in the sto­ryline. Haven’t we seen heroes ver­sus time-travelling assassins before? Yes we have in sci-fi flicks like ‘Ter­minator’ and ‘Looper’. This film hits the same notes. But it makes up for the pedestrian plot with a good dose of smart one-liners and gags. They are the gems of the movie and keep it enjoyable. We can’t forget that at its core ‘Deadpool 2’ is a superhero movie and it tries to be one in its elaborately long and complicated action sequences. Nevertheless, the film doesn’t carry the weight of the world on its shoulder by trying to be another Avengers, where the pro­tagonist(s) need to save their world from big calamities. Here the con­flict is at personal level and stakes are smaller.

 

Ryan Reynolds is the ideal Dead­pool, striking the right balance in depicting the softer side of Wade Wilson and the mischievous effec­tiveness of Deadpool. Kiwi actor Julian Dennison impresses in his first big Hollywood role. (Those who want to see more of him, I recom­mend a little known Kiwi film called ‘Hunt for the Wilderpeople’). Brolin delivers his Cable with astounding grumpiness. But it’s the supporting characters who are the real winners. Right from the meek taxi driver Dopinder (Karan Soni) to Domino (Zazie Beeetz) whose superpower is being lucky, all have scene-stealing presence.

 

I don’t know how long the ‘Dead­pool’ film series will retain its edgi­ness and genre-parodying style. But at the moment, nobody’s likely to take the spotlight away from it.