Deadpool 2 (2018)

I had seen the first DP on DVD, but I had more incentive to go to a theater this time. First of all, the month was almost over and I hadn't used MoviePass to get my money's worth. Second, nothing else showing that I hadn't already seen grabbed me. Third, humor tends to be more enjoyable when a large audience laughs with you.

Wade "Deadpool" Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) actually manages to have a worse time of it than before. In the first act, his wife Vanessa dies (prompting a James Bond opening parody), he futilely attempts suicide, he finally takes up Colossus' (Stefan Kapičić) offer to join the X-Men, and his behavior on his first assignment lands him in a prison for mutants. But for the first time on the big screen, he sees a reason to care about someone other than himself and Vanessa: Russell "Firefist" Collins (Julian Dennison), a teen mutant lashing out at abusive orphanage personnel. Not only is Russell in trouble with the authorities, but time traveler Cable (Josh Brolin again?) channels the Terminator with a personal mission to kill him before he grows worse. Deadpool would rather give Russell a chance at redemption, partly because he relates and partly because Vanessa would want him to.

For a Deadpool story, that's pretty touching. But make no mistake: Pretty much everything you loved or hated about DP is still around. There's violence out—or up—the wazoo, possibly even more than before. The swearing may have increased, tho at this point, it hardly matters. Deadpool sometimes faults others for bigotry and sometimes appears to engage in it (yes, Blind Al is back, albeit with less screen time). The soundtrack still rivals Guardians of the Galaxy movies while using the tunes more incongruously. And of course, frequent fourth-wall breaking leads to a lot of self-deprecation and pop culture references, the latter of which I had a little more trouble keeping up with; I think more had to do with comic franchises. (One of these days, I should catch up on my X-Men cinema.)

Given how severely R-rated it is, I'm slightly disturbed at how big a role goes to Dennison, whose voice was still high at the time of shooting. He's 15 now, and I don't recommend showing this to 15-year-olds. I wouldn't hold my breath for a bowdlerized version either. Still, I've seen R movies with much younger major actors, and at least this one has dialed back the sexual content from its predecessor.

Speaking of teens, if you were raring for more Negasonic Teenage Warhead, I'm afraid she doesn't get to do much. Neither does her new girlfriend, Yukio. I think the only returning character with a bigger role is Dopindar the cab driver, who now wants to follow in Deadpool's footsteps despite lacking powers and combat prowess.

Cable almost appears to have entered the wrong movie. He may have a superficially similar backstory, but he's way more self-serious than Deadpool. I take him as a parody of the gritty antiheroes who dominated comics in the '90s. No, he does not show any scionic powers in this incarnation; he's just a cyborg soldier.

A few other newcomers are worth noting. In the face of long odds, Deadpool founds the X-Force, the most interesting member of which is Domino (Zazie Beetz), blessed with extreme luck. If that doesn't sound like a superpower to you any more than it does to Deadpool, then you haven't read Ringworld and need an influx of imagination. There are also a few villains I'd heard of: confusingly named "Black" Tom Cassidy (Jack Kesy), whose part was reduced from an earlier script to avoid crowding; and the Juggernaut (Reynolds again), who's a bad influence on Russell. Stan Lee does not get a cameo this time, but several Hollywood big shots briefly appear.

I think I like DP2 better. The stakes feel higher, what with the focus on someone more mortal. Actually, Deadpool himself repeatedly comes close to death if not all the way there, thanks in part to power-suppressing collars for prisoners. And he dares to be tender now and then.

You know, I wonder how much Reynolds improvised. Some of his lines are pretty darn random and no less funny for that. I don't know that he could hold his own against Robert Downey, Jr. on that score, but it would be an interesting match.

The audience at my theater didn't laugh as much as I expected. Maybe it wasn't full enough, or maybe they just reacted a lot like I did, often caught between chuckling and cringing. Regardless, I was right not to invite my dad, but neither was it a bad way for me to spend two hours.

ADDENDUM: There are a couple mid-credit sequences that might be important to sequels and are certainly amusing in their own right. After the line "You're welcome, Canada," there's no more entertainment to be had except for the music overlaying the credits, including a reprise of the Juggernaut's easy-to-miss crazy theme.