Boy, six years already? Well, as Deadpool himself points out, delays can happen when IP changes hands. A friend and I had tentatively planned to see this together when we heard the news, but he saw it ahead of me; now I got the initiative to catch up.
Wade "Deadpool" Wilson (Ryan Reynolds), divorced and unable to join an esteemed team of heroes, retires from merc work. He actually seems to be in a tolerable situation, until the secret yet powerful bureaucracy/cult called the Time Variance Authority captures him -- not for his past forbidden uses of time travel, oddly enough. TVA Agent Paradox (Matthew Macfayden) offers him an important role in "the Sacred Timeline," which sounds good to DP until he understands that he'd have to leave all his friends behind in a timeline doomed by the loss of its "anchor being," Wolverine (Hugh Jackman). Indeed, Paradox, without his superiors' knowledge or consent, plans to euthanize that timeline with a special bomb instead of letting it dwindle for millennia. DP would rather save it. He travels to multiple timelines before he finds a version of Wolverine he can strong-arm into coming with him. Paradox deems him the worst of all Wolverines, a drunk who failed everyone he cared about, and says that even a good replacement wouldn't suffice. But DP's not giving up, even when the TVA sends both antiheroes to the Void, a Mad Max-type realm of rejects from various timelines.
In case you thought Paradox the main villain, Cassandra Nova (Emma Corrin), sister of Professor X, seeks to enslave or kill everyone in the Void, and she has an even worse use for TVA tech. She doesn't appear to have all her powers as listed on Wikipedia, but strong telekinesis, telepathy, and rapid healing make her quite enough of a threat to DP and Wolverine. Of course, those boys fight each other half the time.
This movie does a decent if swift job explaining the TVA for those who haven't watched any of the Loki TV series. I'd sooner recommend seeing Logan first, tho D2 had already spoiled it a bit. Marvel cinematic knowledge also provides bonuses in that the Void contains quite a few familiar faces, some of whom hadn't been on screen in about 20 years. People at my theater applauded the entrance of one in particular, but I'd rather not say whom. And then there are the alternate DPs, including an ugly-cute dog who might steal your heart like she does his. In any event, remember that DP has a poor track record of keeping allies alive. Perhaps it's just as well that all his surviving prior buddies are away from the action this time around.
If there's any sign that Disney toned things down, it's the complete lack of nudity. And possibly the fact that Blind Al (Leslie Uggams) is no longer a source of slapstick. Otherwise, it's just as R-rated as ever, with explicit sex and drug talk, enough swearing to make Rocket Raccoon blush thru his fur, and grotesque violence that would be nightmarish if it weren't played for laughs. The makers stuck with what they knew. They even rejected a Disney-level budget to force themselves to stay creative.
Does the approach succeed? To me, yes. I never quite knew what would happen next, including in the discordant soundtrack (which has a few more '90s hits than before). For all their similarities, the bitter, self-serious Wolfie makes a good foil for DP in his own way. I chuckled several times. I wouldn't say DW is the most heartwarming entry, but at least DP can appreciate higher stakes. Fans should be fully satisfied.
Note: Amid the end credits, we get snippets of past X-Men footage, including outtakes and interviews. If you want more DP, there is a post-credit sequence, but it's not exactly plot-important if you don't feel like sticking around.
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