Anghus Houvouras on Deadpool 2…
Sequels are often a disappointing proposition. They come from a creatively suspect place. Hit movies demand replication, but replicating their success means a lot of copying and pasting. None of it feels as fresh as the original, and often we’re left with something unoriginal—and even more sinful, unnecessary.
Unoriginal movies are fine. Hell, 75 percent of the blockbusters audiences will be seeing this summer will be brutally repetitive, cliché-ridden carbon copies of movies already released. Deadpool 2 is a rare sequel that never manages to be half as interesting or half as entertaining as the original. Maybe they should have called it Deadpool ½.
Yes film fans, I thought Deadpool 2 kind of sucked and a major disappointment. The most apt cinematic comparison I think I can find for Deadpool 2 is the oft-maligned Ghostbusters 2. It’s a movie that no one really hates, but it’s a messy collection of scenes and gags that never really amount to anything. Enjoyment of the movie is based less on the story or characters but how entertaining audiences find the stars. Love Ryan Reynolds and his rapid-fire sarcastic persona? You will enjoy Deadpool 2. Think it feels played out and forced? Well, one hour and 50 minutes of Deadpool 2 might feel like a small eternity.
The original Deadpool was a fun piece of B cinema, with some great action and excellent fourth-wall breaking meta humor. Deadpool 2 does what most sequels do: double down on the successes of the original. Unfortunately, the whole concept feels strained from the first act. There’s a couple of good gags that manage to land, but most of the film is a troubling slog through what Ryan Reynolds and the writers deemed as “amusing.” Sadly, I found 90 percent of the movie to be misfires.
Speaking of misfires, the film ranges from “messy” to “incoherent.” Gone are lucid action sequences of the original. Instead, we get a lot of action scenes that feel like the cameraman needs to take two steps back. The fight choreography and kinetic geography is terribly staged. I’m not sure what kind of drugs the editor was on while putting the thing together, but he needs to half the dose. Or double it.
It really felt like there was an opportunity to take Deadpool to a darker place. The story needed to dive deeper, but it’s all undone in an effort to make the main character more likable. And that’s a mistake. The movie is packed with violence and crude jokes, but all of these R-rated gags are wasted, designed to make the main character more palatable to mass audiences. The original movie was so hellbent on making Wade a violent, selfish and interesting anti-hero. The sequel feels like an attempt to soften his harsh edges—which is not exactly where I was hoping this material would go.
Deadpool 2 is … safe. And I realize a movie that involves shoving an electric cable into a villain’s sphincter might be difficult to call “safe,” but the whole enterprise comes across like a tickle fight instead of a going-for-the-throat punch. I was excited to see where they would take the franchise but disappointed to find out Deadpool 2 is shooting blanks.
I was somewhat baffled by the praise being heaped upon the movie. Didn’t anyone else think the character of Cable was totally wasted with almost zero backstory and a half-assed reason for coming to the past? Was I the only one bored by saddling Wade with a dead-girlfriend and a lazy redemption storyline? How about the terrible CG Colossus and Juggernaut? Did that not bother anyone? Even the mid-credits sequence where Ryan Reynolds basically jerks himself off for two and a half minutes… was I the only one starting to think the whole thing had gone too meta. Oh, a Green Lantern joke… that’s… that’s something I guess.
Frankly, I found the whole enterprise a useless, joyless waste of time. Surely there are more interesting directions for this character, instead of a by the numbers superhero sequel that felt rather ordinary.
And that, my friends, is disappointing.
Anghus Houvouras
