BLOOD WORK: SILVER TONGUED SILVER SCREEN: DEADPOOL 2 (2018)

Delightful. F#$%ING delightful were the words I kept saying after the credits finished rolling for DEADPOOL 2. Sorry about the crass language but, c'mon, it's Deadpool! The new movie puts a smile on your face and a curse word in your mouth (but not in a bad way). Deadpool 2 is a ton of fun, just like the first Deadpool film. It's faster paced, filled with inventive action set pieces, poking fun at EVERYONE (both Marvel, DC, and much more), and unapologetic about it all. Whether you like Deadpool or not, whether you like super hero films or not, this one is so much fun no matter what category you fall into.

Simply put: I loved it. Better than the first.

The first Deadpool movie from 2016 was more entertaining and enduring than I had ever expected it to be. Rewatching the first Deadpool this week, even after two years, it still feels like a breath of fresh air in the super hero movie genre. It still maintains its unique status thanks largely to the fact that no one else is doing what Deadpool is doing or is even able to do what Deadpool can do. It has remained wonderfully anomalous over these last two years. Deadpool 2 follows perfectly in its predecessor's footsteps, traveling where no other film can and doing things that no other film could.

It almost feels writers from Cartoon Network's Adult Swim were helming these films, they're so strange.

THE PLOT

(ONE HUGE SPOILER BELOW)

Deadpool's mercenary services are taking him around the world to meet and kill all sorts of exotic evil people. His record remains impeccable until Moscow where his Russian target escapes into a panic room. Wade is forced to leave or be terribly late for his anniversary with Vanessa. He opts to leave and heads home to the love of his life. The Russian follows Deadpool home and *SPOILER ~kills Vanessa~ SPOILER * Wade blames himself and longs to join Vanessa in death. After blowing himself to pieces he has a near death experience in which he sees Vanessa again. She leaves him a cryptic message setting him down a new path.

WHAT I LIKED

The Staples. The action is fantasic, the humor is spot on, and all the things that were so surprising and wondrous in the first film are expertly recreated in this film. It gives you everything you want and more. There are numerous jaw dropping cameos and even a character that was ruined in a previous film, finally redeemed. Deadpool seems to be the cure for what ails the X-Men universe. And the end credits sequences are AMAZING!

Character Treatment. You never can tell with an X-Men movie whether the characters being adapted will resemble their comic book source material or not. Domino is a sight to behold. I loved Zazie Beetz as Domino. She was a little less of the "femme fatale" she is from the comics (by that I mean less serious) and more of a fun character in line with the tone of the film, striking a good balance between the source material and the movie. Needless to say, now that Domino is established I can't wait to see the filmmakers push her character even further and really show off her "luck" in future films. I did miss the chalk white skin with the ink black make-up around the eye though (I love that character design, you know, like an actual domino. But Beetz is so good in the role I don't mind it too much).

During X-Force's first mission Deadpool is constantly telling Domino how terrible her power is and that it is not "cinematic" at all. I couldn't help but wonder if that was an inside joke directed at some 20th Century Fox executive who kept trying to shoot down Domino from being in the movie, and this was the filmmakers giving that executive bigwig a massive middle finger. Thinking about the dialog in such a context makes the sequence all the more enjoyable.

The real person with the power of Luck though is actor Josh Brolin. Brolin as Cable was epic. Going from an incredibly well done character like Thanos (just three weeks ago!) to another fully rendered character like Cable, Brolin is set for life (barring that Marvel Studios doesn't kill Thanos as they do with all their other villains). The dynamic between Cable and Deadpool is wonderfully established. Cable is everything Deadpool isn't, but he is won over by Deadpool by the end.

NITPICKS

No Actual End Credits Scene. There are mid credits scenes but don't bother staying to the end. You get there and see that there's no very end credits scene and you go "what the hell, man?" But you can't really get angry because the Mid Credit scene is so good. I didn't think there was enough Negasonic Teenage Warhead but the movie is pretty packed as it is. Other than that I have no real complaints. The movie was just so much fun. Oh yeah, where was Stan Lee's cameo?

THE VERDICT

Deadpool 2 is everything you could hope for and more. It continues to surprise and subvert expectations (in the right ways) and doing things that no other movie can do. The filmmakers seem to have made it a personal mission of theirs to redeem the "low points" of the X-Men films (continuing what Days of Future Past started). I didn't say it earlier, but incase it wasn't implied enough, Ryan Reynolds is once again perfect as Wade Wilson and brings his A-Game. Reynolds, Zazie Beetz, and Josh Brolin make one helluva X-Force! Deadpool 2 is a prime example of sequels done right. I gotta see this one again.

Overall Ranking: 7 out of 10

Nude-O-Meter: 2 out of 10 (disturbing and funny)