As much as I didn't expect the first Deadpool to be as good as it was, Deadpool 2 doesn't really have any business being as good as it is; which is somehow better than the first. It's kind of not a fair comparison, as Deadpool was a small-budget experiment that was only dragged into release by a fan backlash, whereas Deadpool 2 has all the money and backing to be as big and bold as it wants. Taking on the broader superhero film industry, but the X-Men series especially, Deadpool 2 is actually a deconstructionist parody that angry nerds on the internet claimed they wanted, but seemed all to quick to dismiss. Funny that. When Wade Wilson's freewheeling mercenary lifestyle catches up with him, Vanessa dies tragically and he attempts to kill himself over and over before being rescued by Colossus. Attempting to join the X-Men alongside Negasonic Teenage Warhead and her girlfriend, Surge, Deadpool soon goes rogue to save Firefist, a teenage mutant played brilliantly by Julian Dennison, the best thing to come out of New Zealand since my ex-girlfriend.
Rather than focus strictly on the story, Deadpool 2 bounces around themes and set-up scenes to tell all the jokes it wants, often at the expense of narrative, even spending a reasonable proportion of the second act setting up an extended tease for an "X-Force" film that was never intended to exist. For such a goofy film, a lot of smart choices went into making Deadpool 2, from not overly expanding the cast or premise, to not repeating too many jokes and bringing us more satire. One of my favourite lines is "So dark! Are you sure you're not from the DC universe?", not just because it was funny, but because back in my younger days when superhero films were less ubiquitous, Marvel Comics were considered to be the "darker" take on superhero comics. Even contemporary film-making itself, as a process, gets a jab or two, and not just in the credits, the "Holy S*** Balls" track which plays over the score when Juggernaut attacks is a masterpiece of satire; how many vocal choir themes have played over villain entrances in films for the past decade?
I think the genre needs more films like Deadpool 2, and no, I don't mean films with an R rating, fourth wall breaks or even Deadpool himself (though I'm hanging out for the third entry). We need more superhero films with this much thought put into them for something beyond references and franchise connective tissue. Yes, the pop culture drops flow thick and fast in Deadpool 2, but for me the takeaways are Negasonic being queer and it being a big deal to no one and not played for titillation, Colossus somehow having a more compelling arc than most characters in other X-Men films and Dopinder having his own journey of violence and death quietly in the background. Oh, I forgot to mention in both my Deadpool and Mighty Med reviews that Karan Soni has a small recurring role in Mighty Med and now I want a MCU crossover even more. Yes, I'm sick of the fans, and convention Deadpool cosplayers and all the rest that comes along with the success of these films, but I still can't help but love them all the same. The X-Men series may have only produced a half-dozen good films over two plus decades, but if that's what it took to get Logan and Deadpool 2 back-to-back, maybe it was all worth it?
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