Deadpool 2

It's actually an incredibly positive and motivational film, not so much because of any family concept – everyone will dismiss the family values stuff with an ironic grin anyway (which is what the story is trying to do, after all) –, but rather for the vulgar and self-reflexive lightness, which brings up a smile that will be broader the more experienced the viewer is – and it’s nice to see an A-level Hollywood production making fun of the clichés and the moral and ethnic "laws" of A-level Hollywood productions in such an open way. What I didn’t enjoy is that it goes overboard with the self-awareness in places, which kills potentially impressive moments, especially around the great Cable, but all in all I had a good time, absorbing all the bold innuendo with gusto and watching with interest how the filmmakers, in a little chaotic and simplistic way at times (the opening and the ending), but mostly thoughtfully, manipulate the possibilities and structure of their fictional world, which also transforms into a commentary and reflection of Western pop culture depending on the situation. At times I felt that the motifs could produce more punchy and rich humour (for example, the obvious Terminator inspiration is done away with in one line), the constant dick jokes sometimes annoyed me, and to rate it better, there shouldn't be so many deaf spots or repetitive techniques. In sum, the winner is definitely number one, which had a more coherent effect on me, the second one is very funny, but the narrative is more cumbersome. 70% (17/05/2018)

An excellent sequel to an excellent first part about a talkative Canadian who talked the head off Death. The second part has logically lost the moment of surprise, so it makes up for it with bigger explosions and number of stars (not in the review). All the important X-people are back! What’s more, setting up the X-Force and their first mission is super. After Thanos, Brolin is issued with another ultimate hard-guy. There’s less time traveling than I expected, but that is probably being saved for some post-credits scene. A perfect, feelgood family film. (17/05/2018)

My biggest gripe is that Morena Baccarin (the goddess) is only in it for 5 minutes. Other than that, it's a classic comic book adaptation, with lots of jokes, moderate action, not much of a script to speak of, and medium-rate entertainment. A mass produced film that will make money, but you won’t want to watch it again. For die-hard fans of Deadpool as a quirky comic book character and possibly Josh Brolin. (12/08/2018)

Deadpool 2 is a touching family melodrama about the importance of traditional values, with a hero who wants to kill himself most of the time, vomiting acid and brutal action scenes accompanied by dubstep or Enya (decide for yourself which is worse). It is as comparably entertaining as the first one, though at the same time darker and more layered emotionally and in terms of storytelling. ___ Retrospectively (like a large part of the first instalment) only the first 20 minutes or so are narrated, after which film-noir turns into a buddy movie (from prison). Only the second half is a superhero team flick (Rob Delaney as Peter deserves a spin-off). The protagonist’s objective and the role of the villain (again played by the excellent Josh “Thanos” Brolin), who arrives on the scene relatively late, unexpectedly change several times. Everything is connected by the melodramatic background with the late/impossible reunion and (re)construction of the family. This primarily involves the main protagonist’s inner conflict, not the destruction of the world as in other comic-book movies. Therefore, I was not bothered by the numerous entirely serious scenes without self-deprecating humour (besides, if you have one of the characters refer to the screenwriter as an imbecile after some bad dialogue, nothing about that bad dialogue changes). Thanks to those scenes, you take the characters more seriously than they take themselves and the conclusion stimulates the right emotions (in this respect, Deadpool is more self-sufficient than Infinity War – in order for you to be moved, you do not have to know the preceding 18 films; you only have to know what you have seen over the past two hours). ___ The best bits are the opening credits parodying Bond movies, the post-credit scenes (or rather mid-credit scenes, as nothing remains after the closing credits) and jokes that truthfully call out the shortcomings of comic-book films that lack good humour, something with which Deadpool abounds. Besides the competition from DC, this is again captured mainly by X-Men, referred to as an outdated, gender-incorrect metaphor of racism from the 1960s. Conversely, it freezes routine action scenes with confusing editing (with the exception of a few more fluid moments, which with their choreography bring John Wick to mind), which, as in the case of most major productions of this type, was probably not under the control of the director himself, but of the second unit (and subsequently the people in charge of CGI). ___ Despite that, Deadpool 2 is very good summer entertainment whose creators managed to come up with enough ways to surprise us both with content and with the construction of the story and by using the conventions of various genres even without the possibility of somehow repeating the “wow effect” of the first film from beginning to end. 80% (16/05/2018)

Luckily, Wade wasn't kidding this time either. It is indeed a family film. Without it, the puzzle of gags, charming lines, over-the-top situations, and breaking of the fourth wall would fall apart, but this time the plot foundation is even stronger than before. The first installment took too long to see what it could get away with, the second one jumps headfirst into genre clichés and isn't afraid to undermine them so much that I couldn't believe my eyes (the X-Force airdrop). I didn't trust David Leitch at all, so the relief that Ol' Red is in good hands was ultimately more than surprising. (05/06/2018)