Everyone Back in the Pool

After the surprising success of the original Deadpool (surprising, that is, to everyone who had somehow forgotten the success of The Hangover, Beverly Hills Cop, Ted, 300, Gladiator, The Matrix, There's Something About Mary, etc. etc. etc.), this past weekend brought us a sequel, Deadpool 2. Overall, I think it entertained me about as much as the original... though I think this new installment was a much more uneven movie.

In particular, I found the first act of this new movie very lacking. The pacing is quite slow. It meanders about, almost testing the waters of two or three potential storylines before finally landing on the one that's going to carry the rest of the movie. It also starts off in a very cliche and disappointing direction. (SPOILERS for the rest of this paragraph.) Can we please get over motivating the hero by killing off the love interest? Or at least play with the gender roles more? And if the answer to that is somehow "no," then can we at least not motivate both the protagonist (Deadpool) and antagonist (Cable) of the same freaking movie with the same tired cliche?

Once the movie does actually bring Deadpool and Cable into conflict, though, it finally figures out what it wants to be. It also starts being consistently very funny. The fourth wall breaking humor becomes more biting; perhaps because the movie's own choices become stronger, it's no longer afraid to wink at them. The movie also begins to regularly reference its own predecessor, repeating and one-upping gags like "what Deadpool's face looks like" and "the awkwardness of regrowing severed limbs."

The second act also introduces the movie's best prolonged gag, the new X-Force team Deadpool recruits. In particular, we get the fun and fantastic character of Domino. Opposite a personality as large as Deadpool's, it really isn't possible to steal the movie away. But Domino, as portrayed by Zazie Beetz, comes as close as possible. Her quirky combination of detached cool and self-assuredness is great.

As the movie presses into Act 3, anything can and will go, and the frenetic pace of the jokes and the action totally work. Even composer Tyler Bates gets in on the action with his musical score, in a particular cue that made me laugh the hardest of any joke in the entire movie. (And it totally makes me want to buy the soundtrack album.) Plus, when they promise the best "end credits scene" of any movie ever, they may be wrong only in the sense that it's technically a mid-credits scene.

The peaks are higher, and the valleys lower, than the original Deadpool. But all in all, Deadpool 2 entertains. I'd give it a B+. You may be similarly frustrated with it in moments, but if you liked the first one, you're likely to enjoy the second.