Deadpool 2
3 stars
Director: David Leitch
Stars: Josh Brolin, Morena Baccarin, Zazie Beetz
Duration: 119 mins
Class: 15
KRS Releasing Ltd

If there were any danger any time soon that Marvel fatigue would set in – although given the mammoth success Avengers: Infinity War is currently enjoying both critically and commercially, that day is a long way away – a dose of Deadpool would prove to be an effective antidote.

The anarchic Deadpool is the black sheep of the entire Marvel universe – the opposite of the Avengers and the X-Men, with their intrepid and self-righteous predilection for saving the world and indeed the galaxy.

Deadpool, né Wade Wilson, is a former Special Forces operative turned mercenary. He was diagnosed with terminal cancer and signed up for an experimental treatment which activated latent mutant genes in him, giving him superhuman abilities and curing his cancer but which ultimately left him severely disfigured with horrific scars all over his body.

It also left him with an acerbic, foul-mouthed sense of humour; a complete disregard for human life; and a penchant for destroying everything in his wake. Oh, and he is also aware that he’s a character in a superhero movie, oftentimes addressing the camera in between pummelling adversaries into a pulp.

Born to play the part and tackling it with effortless braggadocio

And it is no stretch to say that Deadpool’s first solo outing was a ginormous success thanks entirely to Ryan Reynolds’ portrayal of the anarchic character. He is a man who can be charming, uncouth, insufferable, mellow, foolhardy and sagacious in equal measure… often within the same scene. Born to play the part and tackling it with effortless braggadocio, Reynolds carried the film, even when it sagged under the weight of its overblown action scenes and relentless violence all of which were barely held together by the slimmest of narratives.

The impact the character had on the superhero world – and, no doubt the €800 million the film netted worldwide – set the ball rolling for a sequel almost immediately. Reynolds makes a welcome return, adding even more snark and irreverence to the character, if that were at all possible.

This time round, Deadpool finds himself playing guardian to Russell (a very effective Julian Dennison), a young mutant with fiery fists who is being hunted by time-travelling cybernetic mutant soldier Cable (Josh Brolin, his trademark menace ironically much less effective here than as the CG’d Thanos in Infinity War). Recognising in Cable a rather difficult adversary, Deadpool and his deadbeat friend Weasel (T J Miller) cobble together a group of mutants known as X-Force.

Like its predecessor, Deadpool 2’s unique selling point is its star, who shines once more in an overabundance of actions scenes chockful of disorder and destruction –  with guns a-blazing, vehicles a-crashing and dramatic deaths by the dozen.

Deadpool brings together anew a superhero team that is disassembled almost as quickly as it is assembled, leaving us little chance to figure out who’s who.

Granted, the blink-and-you’ll-miss-them cameos and pop culture references come thick and fast, and serious trivia buffs may need a second viewing to catch them all. Both character and film take hilarious potshots at seemingly everything under the sun – from his X-Men brethren (with particularly mocking jibes aimed at Wolverine/Logan) to his Avenger cousins; from James Bond (the opening credits) to George W Bush; the movie The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants (a nod to Reynolds’ wife Blake Lively, no doubt) and a recurring gag (which I simply can’t get out of my head!) in which he draws a line between Barbra Streisand’s seminal 1983 film Yentl and 2013 uber-blockbuster Frozen. Even Reynolds himself is a target…

It’s fast and it’s funny. Yet, there comes a point where it is way too much, and Reynolds’ name featuring with the original’s screenwriting duo of Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick has done little to improve the narrative flaws so evident in the first film. Its frenetic pace cannot disguise that fact.

And when Deadpool, commenting on a plot development remarks “now that’s just lazy writing”, you can only agree wholeheartedly.

Moreover, the film cannot tone down the noise sufficiently for the more intimate and personal scenes to really grip the viewer. There is a message amid the mayhem in there about family, but it struggles to be heard. And this is a pity for it’s Morena Baccarin as Vanessa, Deadpool’s love interest, who gets short shrift.   

All screenings of Deadpool 2 will be preceded by Magic Mouse, an award-winning, Emmy-nominated quirky short film written and directed by Maltese filmmaker Luke Zammit. In it, a lowly office employee can get back at his boss after he receives a magic computer mouse which can manipulate the world around him…