Deadpool 2

For all its humour and meta self-referentials which entertained and brought the laughs, this Ryan Reynolds-fronted sequel lacked the spark of originality which made the first movie such a breath of fresh air in this superhero-saturated landscape. This was expected - and inevitable - with most sequels but this film really over-compensated its weak plot, lack of characterisation, and honestly, poor action sequences/CGI, with a constant barrage of sight gags and running jokes. It all got too thin and tiresome after the first act and glaringly too reliant on (or obsessed with?) Reynolds to the detrimental sidelining of proper storytelling (or movie spectacle). But, hey, at least they got Celine to help riff-off Bond.

The problem with non-Marvel produced Marvel franchises (especially Fox-produced ones) is that without Kevin Feige they do not understand, or know, what their fans (and fanboys and fangirls) want. Instead, they focused on the character without the respect to the complicated history and relationships to the MCU. Which made it a competent movie but one that felt detached from its genre despite its oft-mentioned to its history. 

Reynolds effortlessly re-inhabited the role and remained, front and center, the star of this film. But it might be time to spread the attention and humour around. It gets tiresome to keep hearing the same-y kinda jokes from him. A pity TJ Miller is currently persona non grata and Morena Baccarin has minimal screen time. 

Josh Brolin joined another Marvel franchise and he was a lot more emotionally effective as the CGI-ed Thanos than as live-action Cable here. Nonetheless, he was well-cast and sufficiently scary, imposing and gruff. A pity that the material handed him did not go beyond that and his backstory was just brushed through. 

Fan favourite from the first film, Brianna Hildebrand aka Negasonic Teenage Warhead, was relegated to a glorified cameo (to keep her from stealing the limelight from Reynolds?).  But at least she was replaced by Zazie Beetz’s awesome Domino although it was a wasted opportunity to not use her better. She has so many apt moments to utter zingers but no, we’d better keep it all for Reynolds. 

In the end, after 119 minutes, we only got one really cool action sequence  (or actually just half), tons of quips and sniggers, but no big laughs, a ham-fisted morality and a flicker of character growth. And even then, by the post-credits scenes, it kind of gets mooted. 

Speaking of which, other then the post-credits scenes, also watch out for the blink-and-you-might-missed-it cameos by the X-Men, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Alan Tudyk and a young David Heller aka Legion.