Face It “Deadpool 2” Is Not As Good As It Should Be

“Deadpool 2” (20^th Century Fox)

In 2016 the world received a mixed blessing in the form of the movie “Deadpool.” It focused on anti-hero Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) who operated under the guise of his alter ego “Deadpool.” The movie was R-rated and deservedly so because of the foul-mouthed character at the center of the film and for all the violence and mayhem the film contained. It broke a lot of rules for “super hero” movies but because of this was hugely popular.

Now we have the second installment, “Deadpool 2,” and it is cursed with the curse of the sequel. Everything new and fresh in the first is old and trite in the sequel. Ryan Reynolds is till spitting out one liners and breaking the fourth wall by talking directly to the audience. The one liners for the most part are stale and just not funny, and his asides to the audience are just annoying. His performance grates rather than entertains and that is deadly for “Deadpool 2”.

There are some funny ideas so let me add them quickly before I forget them. When Deadpool is assembling a band of brothers he selects people who have super powers. The best selection is Domino (Zazie Beetz) whose super power is Luck. Domino is a bright spot in a grim movie and steals every scene in which she appears. Another selectee is Peter (Rob Delaney), an ordinary man who just applied because he saw the ad. That sounds inane but it works. Finally there is Vanisher who is invisible except for one split second when he is revealed to be – insert star cameo.

But the rest of the movie just never catches fire. For a film that spends a lot of time trying to get a young man named Russell (Julian Dennison) to give up his evil ways, it promotes violence of the worst kind. Murder and mayhem abound. Plus the humor is crude in order to live up to the hard R rating. Just because a joke is dirty doesn’t mean it is funny. It could be, but in all cases it is not. In most cases when they arise in this film they aren’t funny.

Ryan Reynolds still has a lot of charm as Deadpool, but not as much as he had in the original film. He seems to be searching for the right tone and touch but he never exactly finds it. He tries a lot of different angles but none is the right one. Plus he never really connects with any of his supporting cast. Even his scenes with hulky villain/non-villain Cable (Josh Brolin) are awkward and less than entertaining.

“Deadpool 2” is making a ton of money at the box office. Crowds are pouring in to see it. But down deep I think a lot of people know it is not as good as the first one, and not nearly as good as it should be.

I scored “Deadpool 2” a masked 4 out of 10.

Jackie K Cooper

www.jackiekcooper.com