Awright!!! Ryan Reynolds' Deadpool, aka Wade Wilson/Merc the Mouth, is back and not too soon. His garrulous presence stands in direct, abrasive defiance of all the teens who'd have once flocked to the anti-hero's big-screen adventures, but now scorn such storytelling in the name of goose-stepping "sensitivity".
Directed by David "Atomic Blonde" Leitch and scripted by Reynolds, Paul Wernick, and Rhett Reese, "Deadpool 2", like its predecessor, glorifies uniqueness as a brutal (and amusing) justice-brandishing tool. Reynolds makes it all jive, giving the irreverent mutant the unabashed, Looney Tunes vantage that sets his flick apart from even the most colorful of the current pack. Alas, as a second-comer, "Deadpool 2" isn't as fresh as the first, but so be it. It's no less entertaining for its extrapolated, shoot-from-the-hip gall.
This time Rob Liefeld and Fabian Nicieza's Marvel celebrated creation protects a troubled, mutant lad named Firefist, aka Russell Collins (Julian "Paper Planes" Dennison), from extermination. The reason: The kid is to become a futuristic, mass murderer, but his fate might be altered, if only someone were to inspire him to turn the other cheek.
The set-up ushers in Cable, aka Nathan Summers (Josh "Jonah Hex" Brolin, who's still ridin' high from his Thanos portrayal in "Infinity War") as the tale's time-travelin' cyborg-soldier and temporary antagonist, who sports a big gun, a teddy bear and projects the vengeful, if not justified need to kill the Human Torch heir apparent. Deadpool, of course, has other ideas, thanks to the discovery of his big heart.
To accompany his new mission, Deadpool has help (at varying points) from his established friends: Negasonic Teenage Warhead (Brianna "Tragedy Girls" Hildebrand); Colossus (Stephan "Big Miracle" Kapicic); Weasel (T.J. "Cloverfield" Miller); Dopiner (Karin "Ghostbusters" Soni); Blind Al (the legendary Leslie Uggams); and the fetching Vanessa (Morena "Gotham" Baccarin), who becomes both doomed and blessed due to the story's ethereal dynamics.
The old crew is joined by lucky Domino (Zazie Beetz); brain-bending Bedlam (Terry "The Thing" Crews); regurgitating Zeitgiest (Bill "It" Skarsgard); cocky Shatterstar (Lewis "Iron Fist" Tan); and average-guy-along-for-the-ride Peter (Robert "Bad Robots" Delaney): a knock-off of Marvel's enduring secret agent, Peter Wisdom. This add-on, motley crew distinguishes Wilson's X-Force team and through the assembly, our mad mercenary is able to fortify his sense of purpose and plan...well, maybe not. Most of the newbies don't last long, but hey, it's the valiant thought that counts.
The plot, as such, is never complex, nor need it be. The save-or-kill-the-kid premise brackets Wilson's wild tangents and vignettes, making "Deadpool 2" resemble a rough, reinterpreted "Laugh-In". Older fans will appreciate the approach; younger ones will (or would) miss the point, since most lack the daring decency to sneak a peek at any R-rated film or for that matter, any far-out fantasy, unless it's perhaps tradition-stompin' fodder like "Last Jedi".
The film's jarring structure is fine, however, considering how well it fits Wilson's personality swings. Reynolds enables Deadpool's self-parodying stance to connect the outrageous dots (most of which turn cartoonishly violent), ultimately creating a sensible strand. The process is surreal as hell, but against conventional odds, it works like a charm, at least when one grows accustomed to it. (Fans of the first film will latch on without a hitch.)
Now, I must confess, Deadpool isn't generally my kind of superhero, but I'm still cool with him. His hyperactive crassness is what makes him fascinating: an alternative icon who, for whatever spontaneous cause, consistently strikes the right, unapologetic chord. Over and over, that's the ticket here: Deadpool breaks the rules, and the types of rules he breaks deserve to be broken, at least in the abstract way they're presented.
Deadpool is also the embodiment of "Suicide Squad" with a wry, intrepid twist, layering on manic and mature expression for older moviegoers who've long had their fill of sugar-coated, Hitler Jugend mysticism and its consequential, fumigated wand-shaking. He reminds us that it's okay (maybe even essential) to dance on the edge, especially when dictatorial goons declare, "Don't!"
"Deadpool 2", however, isn't afraid to layer such rebellion with chunks of family-spun sentimentality. In fact, both films drill the importance of family into one's head, but the mutant's marinated fans already know the score, having acquired this idiosyncratic benefaction through Marvel's pages. The X-Men, after all, do care about one another, as much as the members of any dysfunctional family can and will.
Even with this precious message bleeding through its crazed antics, the self-proclaimed highbrows will probably condemn "Deadpool 2". On the other hand, those jerkenheimers do deserve some thanks, if only for making Deadpool a sensation among those who get his skewed shtick: I'm talkin' hard-workin' folks who are more than pleased to pay their hard-earned cash for wisecrackin' camaraderie. At the end of any sweat-brow day, that's the emblematic desire of any unsung class. Thank goodness, Deadpool is the ideal deplorable to deliver it.
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