echo Written by Fajar binti Benjamin
Hello there dear reader! Hopefully you read the title of this before clicking on it, but in case you didn’t, this will be a movie review for the R-rated ‘film’, Deadpool 2. We are a family friendly site, so I cannot fully embrace the spirit of this film through the use of crass language. I can, however, embrace the barrier-breaking tone and write this as if I were talking to you, straight on, maintaining a self-aware edge to get inside your head. In other words, yo fourth wall! I’m milking the tar out of you today!
This review will be spoiler free as I have little concern or interest in the actual plot of the movie. Deadpool 2 could’ve been about aliens or zombies or a great race to the top of the Empire State Building to meet a soulmate- it wouldn’t have mattered. Deadpool isn’t, and never has been about the story. It’s about the character, his actions, friends, choices, battles and yes, his jokes.
So going into a Deadpool film, there should only be three concerns on your mind.
- Is it funny?
Yes. It’s hilarious. I haven’t laughed this much in a film since.. Well, since the previous Deadpool. You can be into any type of humor. Dark, slapstick, wit, puns, irony or awkward humor, it doesn’t matter, you’re bound to have your pickle tickled and tickled right.
- Is Deadpool Deadpool?
Yup. Ryan Reynolds, everyone’s 2nd favourite Canadian (after Justin Bieber of course) still has GOT IT. He serves up the character the way you (or should I say I?) imagine him when reading the comics. The perfect blend of sass, ass and crass. His body is invulnerable, yet you can’t help but come out of the movie with the impression that his heart is very much open to being broken. As crazy and outlandish as he is, he somehow, is the most human of the superheroes we are used to seeing on screen.
- Is the movie well produced?
A pretty movie with zero substance can be watched. An ugly movie overfilled with substance cannot. Thankfully, the direction provided by director David Leitch is wonderful to watch. You can see what’s happening in all the action sequences, the timing for the visual jokes is spot on, the sappier scenes take on a softer edge and not that I’m an expert or anything, but the colours are good. (I watch a lot of video essays on movies). Yet again we are provided with an amazing soundtrack, full of past classics and a few original songs that are well on their way to becoming classics. (I can’t wait to see Deadpool 2 win the oscar for best original song courtesy of Celine Dion’s ‘Ashes’).
I’m gonna do the usual ‘praise my favourite characters’, ‘pick out a favourite joke’, ‘dissect and then frame the message of this film’ thing now. But I’ll switch things up just a little by telling you right now what you all want to know. Deadpool 2 is not better than the first one. It’s not worse either. It’s almost a different kind of movie.
Like I said earlier, it doesn’t matter what kind of story you put Deadpool in as long as he’s Deadpool. The first movie was a low budget rescue romance. This movie is a family-oriented action flick. The heart of it is the same. Don’t ask me why they went with the family theme when this is anything but family-friendly. I don’t know. But they did, and it works. Some people will enjoy this one more, and some people would’ve enjoyed the previous one more. I still believe we can all live in harmony.
Now for the characters. Domino, whose superpower is luck is the minority hero we all need and deserve. The actress Zazie Beets stuns (figuratively AND literally) throughout the movie. Despite being R-rated and supposedly a “naughty” film, Deadpool 2 never stoops to the level we’ve seen in the likes of Justice League or Transformers to play out jokes at the expense of beautiful women’s dignity. Oh wait, I need to take back what I said earlier about all types of jokes being present because there is not a single derogatory joke in the movie. It somehow pulls off edgy AND progressive at the same time. Hollywood take note!
Josh Brolin, who we saw just last month as Thanos in Infinity War, plays Cable in this film and boy does he look good without the *coughs* sack chin. The kid, Russel or as he dubs himself “Firefist” is one of the first ever ‘chubby’ superheroes, and a powerful one at that. There are more cameos in this movie than I care to even acknowledge but needless to say, it’s a fanchild’s dream. (At this point the fangirls and fanboys are on equal standing ground)
The movie plays with the themes forgiveness and grief. Wade Wilson, Cable and Russel all showcase their own brand of grief, seeking either revenge, relief or resolutions. However, walking out of the film, it is not some moral message that sticks with you. It’s the glow of shared laughter and the urge to go back in to try and catch more references that you missed the first time around. I recommend this movie for anyone looking to have a good time.
