Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Josh Brolin, Morena Baccarin, Julian Dennison, Zazie Beetz, T.J. Miller, Brianna Hildebrand, Jack Kesy

Director: David Leitch

Producer: Simon Kinberg, Ryan Reynolds, Lauren Shuler Donner

Writer: Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick, Ryan Reynolds

Genre: Super Hero

Duration: 119 Mins*

The ‘The Merc with the Mouth’ is back and this time he is funnier, smuttier and more self-aware. Ryan Reynolds plays the wisecracking, fourth-wall breaking, man-child and anti-hero, Deadpool. The film is directed by David Leitch whose previous resume include the action-packed John Wick and Atomic Blonde, both movies that I liked. So of course, I was excited when it was announced that he would be directing Deadpool 2. I was surprised as to how efficiently the director juggled the plot, characters and the overall tone of the film. When the film gets serious, it really shows. The show stealers of the film are the writers. The writing is sharp, sly and witty. If you are a pop-culture savvy, movie buff or a comic book enthusiast, you will absolutely love the references. I found myself laughing most of the time, other times I felt slightly exhausted due to overlong scenes. In addition to everything above, Deadpool 2 brings the first ever queer superhero couple to the big screen!

The writers definitely got it right this time. Im not saying they got it wrong the first time around, I’m just saying I enjoyed this one more. I laughed louder, I clapped louder and I felt a moment of boredom, just a moment but boredom nevertheless. David Leitch gives us a movie with great things and then some not so great things. I felt that the CGI in a few scenes were below par as was Josh Brolin’s portrayal of Cable, the time travelling mutant. His performance lacked depth. What this movie does right is that it grounds Deadpool’s character. As the movie progresses you see the humane side of Deadpool, his inhibitions and why he’s initially reluctant to form a team and be part of a family. But this doesn’t last long because hey, the studio needs sequels and boatload of money and the franchise must go on. After the assembling of X-force team, the movie really manages to subvert expectations during one hilarious scene. I was thrilled to see Dopinder (Karan Soni), Deadpool’s Indian driver and friend, given more screen time and a better arc in this movie.

The movie is self aware to the T and many gags and jokes poke fun at other cinematic universes and movie troupes. No one is sparred not even Batman. Two socially relevant things caught my eye that was really cool. First, the X-Force team is racially diverse, for instance the characters Domino (Zazie Beetz) is African American, Colossus (Stefan Kapicic) is Russian and Bopinder as I mentioned, is Indian. The second cool part was that this movie portrayed same sex relationships really well. Representation of the LGBTQ community is something that most big budget franchises and studios shy away from. Negasonic (Brianna Hildebrand) and Yukio (Shioli Kutsuna) are introduced fairly early in the movie and its not weird or out of place. The movie doesn’t elect to mock the relationship, which is absolutely amazing given that the film is all about mocking other things. Deadpool 2 also tries to give us a deeper meaning into what it means to be part of a family. Regardless of age, gender or color, which is the most important thing.

Overall, I had a good time at the movies. There were moments where the movie dragged a bit but that’s just because the fun parts were so fun that the serious parts made me just want to go back to the fun parts. For a movie that’s all about not taking itself seriously, they managed to tell a rather strong story, steered clear of clichés and gave us a solid sequel with a relevant social message. The writers really threw everything but the kitchen sink at it. The mid-credit scenes are hands down the best I have ever seen so far.