Not a superhero for the easily offended
Deadpool 2 15 cert, 119min ★★★ Dir David Leitch Starring Ryan Reynolds, Josh Brolin, Morena Baccarin, Julian Dennison, Zazie Beetz
While most superheroes are rather po-faced do-gooders, Deadpool 2 offers something more irreverent, more grotesque and more knowing. For this sequel, Ryan Reynolds and company have doubled
down on what worked in their 2016 super-(anti) hero hit. Deadpool is morally flexible, near-unkillable and he’s even more offensive, his selfhealing injuries even more grotesque, and his fourth-wall breaking quips even more… well, numerous anyway. Mostly, it works.
Wade Wilson (Reynolds), aka Deadpool, is living with girlfriend Vanessa (Morena Baccarin) when things fall apart and, at a low ebb, he’s convinced to help the X-men pacify mutant Russell Collins (Hunt For The Wilder people’s Julian Dennison). Alas, the intervention leaves Deadpool and Russell at the mercy of timetravelling hunter Cable (Josh Brolin).
The
storytelling is rote: we’ve seen every beat done better by Wolverine in the same franchise. Only the body count differs. At least incoming director David Leitch, who directed John Wick and Atomic Blonde, expands the action. The characters don’t so much serve the plot as provide a (mostly) willing audience for the showboating hero, but Zazie Beetz’s Domino adds a blast of cool. And Brolin is the quiet, steely yin to Deadpool’s wanging-on. With its commitment to gross-out injuries, pop culture in-jokes and inappropriate touching, Deadpool 2 was clearly made to cater to existing fans with every innuendo-filled moment. This film makes zero concession for newcomers or sceptics, and those of a genteel disposition should avoid it like the plague.