Deadpool 2

Luckily, Wade wasn't kidding this time either. It is indeed a family film. Without it, the puzzle of gags, charming lines, over-the-top situations, and breaking of the fourth wall would fall apart, but this time the plot foundation is even stronger than before. The first installment took too long to see what it could get away with, the second one jumps headfirst into genre clichés and isn't afraid to undermine them so much that I couldn't believe my eyes (the X-Force airdrop). I didn't trust David Leitch at all, so the relief that Ol' Red is in good hands was ultimately more than surprising. (06/05/2018)

The same problem as with the second Kingsman movie or the second Kick-Ass movie; it should have made fun of clichés of excessive “the more the better" of the second movie and not to follow them. The second Deadpool thus became what the firs movie made fun of. And so the second movie is best characterized by the moment when Pool gives the audience a wink about a generic CGI battle, followed by a completely generic long CGI battle, as from every other blockbuster. And the same could be said about everything. The film makers have a dig at something, but a moment later they make the same mistake. For the second Deadpool movie it is twice as difficult in this respect, because where the first movie with a limited budget had to focus on only the most important staff, the second movie with much larger budget covers many different storylines, some of which are principal while other just fade away and turn into costly and excessive CGI action super scenes. However, despite all my criticism, it can still be biting and funny (most of all in the snuggle scene) and in fact sometimes even nice. But that is something you would expect from any good family movie about important life values. (05/17/2018)

Deadpool 2 is a touching family melodrama about the importance of traditional values, with a hero who wants to kill himself most of the time, vomiting acid and brutal action scenes accompanied by dubstep or Enya (decide for yourself which is worse). It is as comparably entertaining as the first one, though at the same time darker and more layered emotionally and in terms of storytelling. ___ Retrospectively (like a large part of the first instalment) only the first 20 minutes or so are narrated, after which film-noir turns into a buddy movie (from prison). Only the second half is a superhero team flick (Rob Delaney as Peter deserves a spin-off). The protagonist’s objective and the role of the villain (again played by the excellent Josh “Thanos” Brolin), who arrives on the scene relatively late, unexpectedly change several times. Everything is connected by the melodramatic background with the late/impossible reunion and (re)construction of the family. This primarily involves the main protagonist’s inner conflict, not the destruction of the world as in other comic-book movies. Therefore, I was not bothered by the numerous entirely serious scenes without self-deprecating humour (besides, if you have one of the characters refer to the screenwriter as an imbecile after some bad dialogue, nothing about that bad dialogue changes). Thanks to those scenes, you take the characters more seriously than they take themselves and the conclusion stimulates the right emotions (in this respect, Deadpool is more self-sufficient than Infinity War – in order for you to be moved, you do not have to know the preceding 18 films; you only have to know what you have seen over the past two hours). ___ The best bits are the opening credits parodying Bond movies, the post-credit scenes (or rather mid-credit scenes, as nothing remains after the closing credits) and jokes that truthfully call out the shortcomings of comic-book films that lack good humour, something with which Deadpool abounds. Besides the competition from DC, this is again captured mainly by X-Men, referred to as an outdated, gender-incorrect metaphor of racism from the 1960s. Conversely, it freezes routine action scenes with confusing editing (with the exception of a few more fluid moments, which with their choreography bring John Wick to mind), which, as in the case of most major productions of this type, was probably not under the control of the director himself, but of the second unit (and subsequently the people in charge of CGI). ___ Despite that, Deadpool 2 is very good summer entertainment whose creators managed to come up with enough ways to surprise us both with content and with the construction of the story and by using the conventions of various genres even without the possibility of somehow repeating the “wow effect” of the first film from beginning to end. 80% (05/16/2018)

My biggest gripe is that Morena Baccarin (the goddess) is only in it for 5 minutes. Other than that, it's a classic comic book adaptation, with lots of jokes, moderate action, not much of a script to speak of, and medium-rate entertainment. A mass produced film that will make money, but you won’t want to watch it again. For die-hard fans of Deadpool as a quirky comic book character and possibly Josh Brolin. (08/12/2018)

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it." This is exactly what the makers of Deadpool 2 followed, sticking to the sequel rules and simply trying to cram more of the things that audiences enjoyed last time into one film. And it works. It's still just as cheeky, gritty and fun. Plus, thanks to a new director, we get a level better action sequences, and besides, the trailers are far from spelling out everything that made it into the film. It's a shame about the slightly more rushed start, but even so, Deadpool 2 is at least on par with the first. Or rather, it surpasses it in every way. (07/26/2018)