Do you know why I love Deadpool? Because he’s the only costumed avenger who seems to know that the superhero world is all bullshit. It doesn’t stop him from pain or angst, but it does mean that when science gets thrown out the window, there are equal parts making fun of it as taking advantage of it. How exactly do you kill Deadpool, anyway? I think even Deadpool would like to know the answer to that one. In this film, he makes a hammock out of explosives and lights a match; after blowing himself into several pieces, however, he’s back at the vengeance game again the very next day. Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) regenerates, you see. This brings of the questions of “Regenerates from what? Is he like a human earthworm? If you cut him in half, do you eventually get two Deadpools, or just Deadpool 2?”
Ignoring what one might do with the severed-and-discarded limbs of the non-regenerating stuff, Deadpool is back and hating life instantly. Nobody blames Deadpool for regenerating a pool of depression. Mrs. Deadpool (Morena Baccarin) buys it before the opening credits when killers storm their apartment; Deadpool, did you bring work home again?
Luckily for us, his Iron Curtain of a friend, Colossus (voice of Stefan Kapicic) collects and nurtures the broken Deadpool as an X-Man trainee, which works up to the point that Deadpool 
gets a little too vengeful while trying to save the kid from Hunt for the Wilderpeople (Julian Dennison). And that’s about the time the real bad guy, Cable (Josh Brolin), shows up. I hope all of you invested in Josh Brolin in your Fantasy Leagues; between this and Avengers: Infinity War, Brolin’s logged more green screen in the past year than Andy Serkis has in the past week (which is still quite a lot). Cable has the benefit of being from the future, which makes one wonder why he’s taking life so personally. Dude, you want to solve the problems of our future? He’s on a golf course at Mar-a-Lago right now.
I’m sure many will view Deadpool 2 as just another violent indulgence; there is a lot of blood; there is a lot of fighting. But therein lies tongue-in-cheek hilarity in taking down the genre … like when Deadpool sets out to save the kid and embarrass X-Men in one fell swoop by making his own super team, “X-Force.” “Isn’t that a little derivative?” “You’re absolutely right.” X-Force introduces us to Domino (Zazie Beetz), whose super power is, get this, being lucky. Anybody who thinks this isn’t a real super power has clearly never had a younger brother.
And, yeah, this is a violent and occasionally disturbing film – but not always in the ways you imagine. Sure, when Juggernaut literally rips Deadpool in half, that’s not easy to
watch … and yet, it’s far easier than the following scenes in which Deadpool is a home regenerating his legs, and decides to go pantsless during the post-toddler stage. It’s even worse than it sounds, or even better depending on your perspective.
There is a collective sigh emanating from somewhere around Vancouver these days that can only come from the moment when an amiable actor finds his signature role and nails it. Imagine if Ryan Reynolds were forever doomed to be Green Lantern, Van Wilder, or the guy in The Proposal. See, this is why nobody can name a Hedy Lamarr movie even though everybody loves Hedy Lamarr. Don’t be that guy … er, gal. Despite the Cable intervention, rest assured that there are plenty of canines in the Ryan Reynolds future, and yet he will forever be Deadpool, which will, in turn, forever cement good will among people old enough to see these films.
Just Friends are The Voices of R.I.P.D.
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Turbo Van Wilder? Thank God for Deadpool
Rated R, 119 Minutes
Director: David Leitch
Writer: Rhett Reese & Paul Wernick & Ryan Reynolds
Genre: Anti X-Men
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: People who love ripping on comic book heroism almost as much as they love comic book heroism
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: “I don’t care; I’m done with this genre.”
