When “Deadpool” released in 2012, it was the “Spiderman” and “Batman Begins” moment of this decade. That film single-handedly changed the way people looked at superhero films. Ryan Reynolds, who had two infamous skirmishes with the superhero world, finally got his groove in the red and black costume. That film was very, very successful at the box-office and it paved the way for its sequel. Trailers told us that “Deadpool 2” features Cable, a time-travelling mercenary with a robotic arm who’s killing people – he somehow falls into a pitted battle against our titular character and what happens next forms rest of the story.
At first blush, the story seems right out of a middle-month comic book monthly – two characters battling each other in what would commonly be an unending battle. But that’s where “Deadpool 2” excels. So confident are the filmmakers with the way the character has transformed, they chose to hide the fact that this is, by far, one of the most emotionally charged up script of a superhero film ever. That the makers decided to put the emotional heft (that is a favorite term, I always wanted to use it once in an article. I did) on the backburner and go ahead with the motormouth mercenary trope is a bold move, but did that work? Let’s find out.
Ryan Reynolds is still as charismatic as ever as Deadpool. Any other actor with such a pithy, mocking itself script would have become a bad meme, but Ryan rocks it all – throwing jibes at other franchises, throwing jibes at characters of other franchises of other companies, throwing jibes using pop culture references – he does it all and he does it all with elan and style.
What really works for “Deadpool 2” is the ‘care-a-damn’ attitude about things that we think should hold center place in lives. These guys have an LGBTQ relationship right there in the open. The Deadpool character’s so cocky, his sexuality (he identifies as pansexual) is pretty out there, and you know what, they still don’t care. Maybe that’s the lesson from this franchise, don’t broadcast your decisions and maybe they won’t get complicated and won’t create problems. For example, in real life, if I decide to go vegan, I’d go vegan. Nobody would have any problem unless I make it a point to broadcast it at every breakfast/lunch/dinner I have.
All in all, “Deadpool 2” is a great addition to the franchise and it definitely keeps it all alive for a Deadpool 3 or something. This is one of the few times that an infusion of a new character doesn’t seem thrust down the throats of the audience. But that’s only fair. The duo of Deadpool and Cable are considered to be right up there with a particular cat and mouse and two superheroes playing a winged animal and a bird.
What’s really surprising is that the creators decided to keep the highlight away from the two most important events in the Marvel Universe that happen in this film. The way it’s just brushed around to make way for more gags and dialogues from the Merc would make a scriptwriter tear up. The action sequences aren’t that cool this time around even though we have three Marvel main characters fighting it out against each other in two different action sequences, they are missing the ‘cool’ factor – that cool factor was visible in the character puffing away smoke through his mask in one of the initial scenes. But go watch the film, of course. You will be missing out on something if you don’t.