Spoiler-Free Movie Review: DEADPOOL 2 - Eclectic Boogaloo

SPOILER-FREE MOVIE REVIEW: DEADPOOL 2

Eclectic Boogaloo

I never cared much for DEADPOOL as a comic book character. He was pretty much emblematic of an era in the medium that was repulsive for me both artistically and creatively. In the late 80s, such innovative creators like Frank Miller (notably with his celebrated stint on DAREDEVIL and his classic DARK KNIGHT RETURNS in 1986) and Alan Moore (with his outstanding deconstruction of SWAMP THING in 1983 with Stephen Bissette and John Tottleben, and his ground-breaking 1986 mini-series WATCHMEN, among others) brought a fair amount of grittiness and violence to a genre that was still widely seen as ''kiddie literature'' by the public. (A  perception that was inadequate, to be sure, but still widespread) They conveyed a general sense of respectability and legitimacy that actually lead to the production of the film that would redefine how superheroes were portrayed in films; Burton's BATMAN. Comic books, or as they were known in fancy-schmancy society, ''graphic novels'', were finally cool.

Frank Miller's THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS, which brought to the superhero genre a grittiness that paved the way for characters like DEADPOOL.

But like any success stories, some would extract from them the wrong lessons. ''Gritty'' characters started populating comic books, responding to an army of seemingly bloodthirsty teens, revelling for instance in the violent exploits of THE PUNISHER, who also was granted his own hard-boiled mini-series at the beginning of 1986. This was a glance at the future of comic books, where virtue was nowhere as prized anymore as a righteous savagery that would put back Harry Callahan and Paul Kersey to the minor leagues.

The other series that was instrumental in bringing to life the Deadpool generation of heroes. Violent homicidal NRA card carriers as heroes.

By 1990, riding on this blood red wave, artist Rob Liefield and writer Fabian Nicieza introduced in NEW MUTANTS #98 a strange character that looked (admittedly) like SPIDER-MAN, healed quickly like WOLVERINE, and carried guns like the PUNISHER. Writer Nicieza commented to Liefield upon seeing the character that his abilities and costume were also reminiscent of TEEN TITANS foe DEATHSTROKE. Liefeld decided to add a nod to DEATHSTROKE's secret identity of Slade Wilson, by creating a semblance of lineage by naming DEADPOOL Wade Wilson.

An early sketch of Deadpool by Rob Liefield to introduce the character to New Mutants editor Bob Harras.

In 1993 and 1994, he starred in a couple of miniseries, one of them written by Mark Waid. DEADPOOL was originally a rather unpleasant character; a brutal man-hunter with little redeeming values and a dark sense of humor. Waid regretted taking the assignment: "Frankly, if I'd known Deadpool was such a creep when I agreed to write the mini-series, I wouldn't have done it. Someone who hasn't paid for their crimes presents a problem for me."

It's in 1997, when DEADPOOL acquired his own regular series, that an important shift in tone occurred. Writer Joe Kelly introduced an element of self parody, slapstick and pop culture references, along with a regular breaking of the fourth wall, that somehow made the gruesome villain turn into a comical anti-hero. Basically taking a cue from the self-referential humor of MAD MAGAZINE, NOT BRAND ECCH! and the antics of Robert Loren Fleming's AMBUSH BUG. It's in that series that supporting characters like Blind Al and Weasel, that also appear in both films, make their first appearances.

The definitive incarnation of Deadpool started in the 1997 regular series.

The popularity of the character grew so well that it was no surprise that he soon ended up appearing on the big screen in X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE (Gavin Hood, 2009), arguably the most embarrassingly bad of all the X-MEN movies. To add insult to injury, while the character of Deadpool (performed by Ryan Reynolds) may show a certain gift for gab at the start, he becomes a mouth-less abomination when he is turned into ''Weapon XI'' at the end of the film, losing everything that makes the character appealing in the first place. The ''merc with a mouth'' now had no mouth. Maybe writers David Benioff and Skip Woods felt they were being clever. Who knows?

But Reynolds  never lost hope that he may one day do justice to DEADPOOL. He had actually been attached to the character ever since Marvel had made a deal with Artisan Pictures in 2000, in the hopes of making TV shows, animated series and movies based on some of their series, like BLACK PANTHER, POWER PACK, IRON FIST and of course DEADPOOL. Nothing really came out of the deal except 2004's THE PUNISHER (Jonathan Hensleigh) and the misguided MAN-THING (Brett Leonard, 2005). However in 2004, the DEADPOOL project was still hanging like a ripe fruit in the air, and director David Goyer, quite happy with Reynolds' energetic performance in his otherwise messy BLADE; TRINITY, was contemplating writing and directing the property with Reynolds as the immortal mercenary. That project never came to fruition, but Reynolds had been attached to the character for so long that by the time X-MEN ORIGINS was cast, Fox remembered Reynolds, with the distinct intention of having him lead his own spin-off afterwards. The poor critical reception of the film didn't cool down those ambitions, but it did take years for a DEADPOOL movie to happen.

There's a persistent rumour that Ryan Reynolds first got interested in playing Deadpool after reading this moment from Cable and Deadpool #2. And he did state that after reading it,  ''I was like, I really, really wanna play this guy at some point. I thought it was pretty cool.''. However, Goyer talked about plans to make a Deadpool movie with Reynolds in a February 2004 interview. This comic book was published in April 2004. More fuel to the fire, but not the spark that lit it.

It's only when visual effects supervisor Tim Miller was brought on as a possible director that things escalated. In 2014, he produced with Reynolds a Test Footage reel that was leaked on the internet and went viral. According to Reynolds, the reaction was so overly positive to the accurate portrayal featured in the short film that "Within twenty-four hours, we had a green light."   There still exists rumors that the footage was most likely leaked by either Miller or Reynolds themselves. No matter what, the gamble worked beautifully

.

In 2016, the first movie proved to producers that a R-rated Superhero film could be viable, making over $ 780 million at the box office. Hilariously rude and imaginative, DEADPOOL was like no other comic book film before. Ryan Reynolds inhabits the character to perfection, making him a lovable wise-ass, that just happens to be a ruthless contract killer. But it insistently refuses to take its ''hero'' seriously, which is one of the main charm of the film.

In fact, both DEADPOOL movies rest on Ryan Reynolds' shoulders. His obvious passion for the character is communicative, and it would be hard to imagine someone else inhabiting the character with such gusto. And inhabiting may be the right word; Reynolds has been a producer on both films, and owns personally one of the costume that he gleefully wears at any occasion to promote the films, creating viral videos and surprise appearances as Deadpool that demonstrate a level of commitment to a character which is rare in motion pictures. He literally bought into the Merc with a Mouth lock, stock and barrel.

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And this passion pays off. He obviously has fun with the character, and the audience gleefully tags along for the wild ride. Written by the same team which tackled the 2016 original, with the addition of Reynolds himself, DEADPOOL 2 boasts the same healthy dose of self-referential and even self deprecating humor, numerous pulp culture references, and outrageous action scenes with somewhat ribald slow-motion moments. The strong identity of  Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick' script is such that you hardly feel the difference in direction. DEADPOOL director Tim Miller, after having some of those pesky ''creative differences'' with Reynolds (allegedly over who should play Cable), left the sequel to focus on rebooting the TERMINATOR franchise for James Cameron. The directing job then went to Stuntman David Leitch who had directed some scenes for the impressive JOHN WICK, and made his feature directing debut with ATOMIC BLONDE. 

The film certainly does not lack energy, yet loses a bit of steam during Deadpool's incarceration in a maximum security prison for super-powered perps, as his depression over the loss of his girlfriend, assassinated at the beginning of the film, tends to drag down the film in a direction that feels somewhat lacking. After the High-Octane craziness of the first film, the attempts to make Wilson more human by having him moping around about his lost love or caring about saving the life of a kid feels forced. There's nothing wrong with a bit of virtue in our heroes, but it seems a bit out of place with Deadpool. Then again, it does help the character to move away from his ''creep'' status, so it may not be a bad idea. Just not subtle. Yet Deadpool is not exactly where you go for subtlety, so...

The cast, lead of course by an enthusiastic Ryan Reynolds, is top notch. Josh Brolin manages to bring a certain amount of rough around the edges depth to the time-traveling Cable, exuding the same kind of rugged charm that even transpired in his motion captured role as Thanos in last month's AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR. Zazie Beets owns the screen as Domino, whose unusual super-power of just been lucky leads to some of the best action sequences of the film. Young Kiwi actor Julian Dennison, who stole Taika (THOR RAGNAROK) Waititi's HUNT FOR THE WILDERPEOPLE from co-star Sam Neill, continues to demonstrate his considerable talent for both drama and comedy as the troubled Firefist, and his pugnacious attitude is the only thing making Deadpool's obsession with saving him feel not as maudlin. 

Ryan Reynolds flanked by Zazie Beets and Josh Brolin as Domino and Cable respectively.

I could talk about the casting for the team formed by Deadpool to accomplish this mission, X-FORCE, but suffice it to say that they have one killer scene in the film that surprisingly made me glad to see a live action rendition of characters I tend to find aggressively uninteresting on the page. It's an actual highlight of the film. Nuff said.

In the end, this may be just another R-Rated, big-budget, avocado-faced, butt-grabbin'", rip-snortin', gun-tottin', pop culture lovin', wise-crackin' ode to adolescent humor, but if you laughed your ass off with the first one, you'll get more of the same with this one. There is more than enough room to poke fun at the superhero genre that is so predominant in the theatres these days. Although paradoxically, this just adds to the unending proliferation of grown men running around in silly costumes on the silver screen.

And I wouldn't have it any other way. 

I know.

I need help.