imperfection is perfection
Sporadic film reviews by a wanna-be filmmaker
DEADPOOL 2 [2018]
Much like the first film, Deadpool 2 plays with time-lines, a lover of Wade, Ryan Reynolds narrating in a semi-amusing way, the occasional break of the fourth wall. At least the latter doesn’t happen often this time around. Surprisingly though it does have some meaning and some emotional scenes, which are often interrupted by snarky remarks by Deadpool, which are genuinely funny, piercing the seriousness of the situation. It tries to poke fun at other superhero films much like the first film, but fails often. So yet again we have a film that, ignoring the humour, plays out like any other superhero movie. Superheros throwing other superheros around. Firey abilities. Deadpool even narrates ‘…and here comes a CGI fight!’
Luckily, this time around the humour works much better than the first film. It tries less to be vulgar and immature- though there is certainly no lack of this- but there is much more variety in the comedy. Especially the narration of Deadpool, but also the film generally. The taxi driver also makes a return- Deadpool and him have great chemistry and the driver also plays more of a role, often for laughs. This film moves from being vulgar to being a dark comedy.
The story at first seems rather weak- a young boy who is a mutant is burning everything in sight, so Deadpool shows up trying to reason with him. The narrative though has twists that are surprising and creates a film that is funny while being filled with superheros tossing each other around. This is much more bloody and violent than other films of the genre, and it is very well done. However, almost all of this comes from Deadpool either taking carnage or dishing it out. The rest is very generic and bloodless.
In his first big role after Hunt For The Wilderpeople, Julian Dennison displays his talent and range as a young actor. In Wilderpeople, he was consistently funny and displayed amazing comedic timing for an actor so young. Here, he is far from funny, rather he is a very angry young mutant who doesn’t crack one joke. And he nails it. After Wilderpeople, it is good to see that his talent was recognised and now he is a main character in one of the biggest films of the year.
Ryan Reynolds is fantastic in this role as expected, but the lines he is given, the scenes that he is in, are much better than the first film. His narration and meta-jokes don’t dominate the film, resulting in a much better finished product. Oddly, Wade seems to have healed- his face looked much worse in the first film. But this is a small complaint, as Ryan again owns the role and will forever be associated with this fascinating character. In fact, Deadpool as a character is easily more interesting than every Avenger squashed together. Every other character is great too, all played very well by everyone involved, especially Josh Brolin as a surprising addition for someone who avoids trailers like the plague.
Unfortunately, despite being directed by David Leitch, who worked on John Wick and directed Atomic Blonde, both filled with excellent action sequences, the action in Deadpool is weak in the way it is shot. Not for the first time and certainly not the last, much of the close-quarters action scenes are chopped into tiny fragments, switching from shot to shot rapidly. This doesn’t ruin these moments entirely, but it yet again obscures the action, making each kill, each punch, less satisfying than it could have been. Perhaps studio interference intervened, but these scenes certainly could have been created in a much better fashion. There is also an overuse of slow motion, and a very average soundtrack. But hey, it is still fun to watch.
And that is essentially what Deadpool 2 boils down to. A fun watch with ridiculous action and a change in humour that is fresh and much needed. But apart 
from the humour and Deadpool’s unique and violent abilities, there is not much to separate this film from most other superhero flicks. Deadpool 2 is a fun film, but far from original, disregarding the humour of course. It is however better than the first film and a satisfying sequel. Hopefully when Deadpool 3 inevitably arrives, it builds on the changes it has made to further separate it from other PC-friendly films of the genre.
Two short of a sixer.
4/6
15 Comments on “DEADPOOL 2 [2018]”
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imperfection is perfection 
Nice review Jordan. I’m so bored with Superhero films for the reasons you express. I’ll probably rent Deadpool 2 in the future but have no desire to go pay for a ticket.
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don’t blame you. Like I said the humour here seems to have evolved into a dark, messed up kind of humour that is right up my alley so I enjoyed it enough. But it isn’t different enough from all the other crap to warrant a watch if you’re not that interested.
Logan though, that is one that sticks out from rest.
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I watched it and liked it. It wasn’t so formulaic.
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Exactly!! Ahhh its nice to have someone on my side!! 😉 And that is great you liked Logan! It stands out from the rest of the stuff soooooo much. It looks like a western! The last act turned into another ton of superpowers and people flying around type stuff but at least that was cos there was a good reason for it. The story, even only slightly knowing about the X-Men, is great i think. And again NOTHING like anything else they have done.
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oh and I know I ask you a lot about my writing, but if I gave you a google link to the whole thing, do you think you’d have time/could be buggered having a look through how I am editing it? I think I have cleaned up a lot but its still really rough. But… I kinda want it that way. But I know a guy who can get it published for me, so I fear I’m going to lose some of my writing style if it still seems ‘rough’ after a proper edit where I made a lot of changes and deleted a lot that I didn’t need. Though… I’m not exactly sure what that person meant exactly by ‘rough’. Its kinda supposed to sound rough, the experience was rough as hell!
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If it’s rough, it might mean you need to polish the syntax or maybe the narrative–making sense, the plot progression — do you have a beginning, a middle, and an end? Is there a conflict with a resolution?
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hmph I never was taught anything so I’m gonna have to take both of those and figure out how it fits with my story.
There is conflict, I’m not sure what resolution means in this context, but the conflict certainly results in a reaction/consequence. As for a beginning mid etc its very hard to have such a chaotic story fit into such a rigid format. It kinda flows, it begins and slowly rises in wierdness
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There are a lot of weird writers out there that play with structure. Are you an unreliable narrator? Since it’s a crazy story, should the reader believe everything that’s thought or said by the narrator?
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unreliable narrator no doubt, I didn’t actually know that was a term until I was halfway into my book. But yeah that is exactly what I aim to be. There are wiffs of Cuckoo’s Nest (which you demanded I read when we first spoke about this subject years ago hehe, amazing book) and Hunter S Thompson without the ‘journalism’ angle, more a diary of a few crazy weeks.
A lot of it is stream of conscioussness typoe writing, another term I learnt after well into the book haha. There isn’t a ton of dialogue, most of it is what is happening in my head and how I am perceiving the strangeness around me as well as my own mental health weirdness/drug withdrawal
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I liked Deadpool 1 more but you raise some good points about Dennison’s performance and the action scenes.
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I love Dennison. Ever since I saw Wilderpeople I liked him, and it is awesome to see him do something very different. And he is a kiwi yay that’s basically Australian! ;P
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Nice review! I wasn’t a big fan of the first one. The timelines and story were too disorganized. The second one was much better with handling the comedy, even if it is more of the same from the first one. But Deadpool would not be possible without Ryan Reynolds. He pretty much makes the movie and character worth it. Still a fun and entertaining movie!
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Yup, a ton of fun and its pretty much impossible to think of anyone else who could be Deadpool. If he gets a video game Ryan has to do the voiceovers!
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This Julian Dennison kid was terrible. I hated the character and the actor annoyed me so badly it easily brought the whole film down for me, I haven’t seen his first film and seeing how it’s Waititi who is also annoying as hell I am never seeing that now.
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I’m biased cos they are both from New Zealand 😀 Dennison is definitely more effective in a comedic role though I guess you’ll never get to see that, at least not yet.
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