Movie Review: Deadpool 2

Disclaimer: This review will contain spoilers. Don't read it unless you've already watched the movie or unless you don't care about being spoiled. I like to analyze movies, and I can't really do that unless I spoil the movie. You have been warned.

Still disclaimer: Again, I'm serious. This review will spoil some major plot points from the movie. Unless you don't care about spoilers, don't read this until you've seen the movie.

Deadpool has been successfully superheroing for a couple of years now, slaughtering a number of human traffickers. However, on his and his girlfriend, Vanessa's, anniversary, one of his targets he failed to kill shows up and kills Vanessa. After killing the target in revenge, Deadpool tries to blow himself up in despair over his girlfriend's death. His body is blown into pieces but he survives, found by Colossus. Recovering at the X-Mansion, he starts training to become part of the team, but he winds up in prison. In this prison, he befriends a young, plus-sized mutant named Firefist. It turns out that a sequence of events will lead Firefist to become a murderous mutant in the future who will kill the wife and child of Cable. Cable comes to the present from the future with a mission of killing Firefist before he becomes a villain, leading Deadpool to try and talk Firefist out of it before Cable gets his hands on him.

This is a very fun film, like the first one. Like the first film, it is also not suitable for kids. There is far less sexual content in this one. You do get a glimpse of Juggernaut's CGI backside and jokes about Deadpool's tiny but growing back genitalia after he is ripped in half by Juggernaut. Also, several references to Deadpool's pansexuality are made.

But harsh profanities abound, and the violence is still extreme. There is still loads of humor (and most of it lands, while some of it is a bit forced), and it is surprisingly a more emotional outing. The first film was Deadpool's origin story. Now that we know Deadpool and the rules of the universe he lives in (including all the fourth-wall breaking), the writers can do something more with the character. And they have done so. There are surprising turns in the story, such as the murder of Vanessa which serves at the catalyst for the events that spur the plot along. Even more surprising is that most of the X-Force teammates that Deadpool recruits die almost immediately after beginning their mission, leaving Deadpool, Domino, Cable, and Firefist as the only surviving members of X-Force.

And coming off of Avengers: Infinity War playing supervillain Thanos, Josh Brolin plays Cable to perfection here (and has signed a four-film deal to portray the character).

Themes:

The main theme running through this film is one of family (which, of course, is pretty much an overdone theme in movies and television). Deadpool and Cable share a motivation to stop the bad guys -- people they care about are murdered. Deadpool realizes that Firefist has been abused by the people raising him in the orphanage, so Firefist really is not a bad guy. He just had a difficult past. So Deadpool takes it upon himself to try and talk Firefist out of committing his first murder, which will lead to others, because he believes he can get through to him (which, of course, is the old "nature vs. nurture" theme).

Grade: A

Again, this was a very fun movie, if you can overlook the language and excessive violence. I couldn't give it an A+ because of the language and violence being so gratuitous. But it is definitely a well-made movie, well-acted, very funny and even successfully emotional when it needs to be.

Deadpool 2
(Cameo spoilers below)
Directed by: David Leitch
Written by: Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick, and Ryan Reynolds
Starring:
Ryan Reynolds as Wade Wilson/Deadpool
Morena Baccarin as Vanessa
Josh Brolin as Cable
Julian Dennison as Russell Collins/Firefist
Zazie Beetz as Domino
T.J. Miller as Weasel
Brianna Hildebrand as Negasonic Teenage Warhead
Jack Kesy as Black Tom Cassidy
Ryan Reynolds as the voice of Juggernaut
Stefan Kapicic as the voice of Colossus
Leslie Uggams as Blind Al
Karan Soni as Dopinder
Terry Crews as Bedlam
Lewis Tan as Shatterstar
Bill Skarsgard as Zeitgeist
Rob Delaney as Peter
Brad Pitt as Vanisher (in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo)
James McAvoy as Professor X (cameo)
Nicholas Hoult as Beast (cameo)
Evan Peters as Quicksilver (cameo)
Tye Sheridan as Cyclops (cameo)
Alexandra Shipp as Storm (cameo)
Kodi Smit-McPhee as Nightcrawler (cameo)
Hugh Jackman as Wolverine (archival footage)
Alan Tudyk and Matt Damon as "rednecks" (cameo)

New Project: Reviewing Every Star Trek Episode/Movie

Star Trek has been my favorite franchise for most of my life. I first got into Star Trek when I was in the sixth grade because one of my classmates couldn't stop raving about it. I decided to give it a try. Star Trek: The Next Generation was in its run, just finishing up its fifth season. The first episode I managed to watch was "Time's Arrow, Part I" (yes, when it was originally a cliff-hanger. I remember after the episode was over and a rerun was being previewed, wondering why the second part wasn't going to be shown next week.)

I've only ever watched one Star Trek show in its entirety on first-run episodes: Star Trek: Voyager. The Original Series was before I was alive, The Next Generation was a couple years away from ending. I gave Deep Space Nine a try but gave up on it after just a few episodes. I liked Voyager enough to stick with it throughout the entire show (while I was still trying to catch up on The Next Generation reruns). I also liked Enterprise enough to stick with it, but unfortunately during the third season I started working swing shift at work so I missed out on the entire season. Now in the age of DVDs and Netflix, I've managed to watch every single episode and movie Star Trek has ever made. Well, with the exception of Discovery. I'm ambivalent about that show. I saw the first episode of it when it aired on network television and wasn't impressed. It didn't resemble Star Trek at all. At any rate, I plan to watch the entire franchise in broadcast order and review them. After I finish each show (including the movies), I will give a top ten list of what I consider the best and the worst episodes of each show.

This will most definitely be a labor of love, but it will also give me a better idea of which episodes to suggest watching and which to avoid when I learn someone is wanting to give one of the shows a chance. I will begin with the very first pilot, "The Cage," then move into The Original Series. Since there are over 500 episodes and movies in the franchise, I will likely be watching and reviewing them two or three at a time.

Let the viewing begin.