Did you know we were getting a Terminator sequel this summer? A really good one? Well, we are - and it's called Deadpool 2. So rejoice, fans of self-aware meta-commentary and unhinged splatter! Because Deadpool 2 is easily the delirious equal of its 2016 progenitor.
Ryan Reynolds has found a character he can really paint the town with, and he wreaks every kind of havoc you can imagine here. New director David Leitch (Atomic Blonde) fills the void left by departing original director Tim Miller (more on that later), diving headlong into the action right out of the gate. The opening credits are a gut-busting send-up of the opening titles of every Roger Moore Bond picture's design-heavy kaleidoscope.
Wade Wilson doesn't handle tragedy well - and when his over-the-top healing factor throws a wrench in his self-immolating intentions, he decides to channel his need to save something into becoming the best X-Man ever! Well, best trainee ever. And in a world where mutant misbehavior is carefully monitored, he soon finds himself in the mother of all super-max prisons - the Ice Box.
What's great about this second outing is Reynolds doesn't just caper and smirk. Deadpool's 'tude comes from a place of real pain - and serious loss - and Reynolds does terrific work carrying the film's more serious moments as well.
So about that Terminator. Wade's immediate plans are disrupted by the arrival of a hard-case cyborg from the future - Cable (Josh Brolin) - who's journeyed through time on his own hell-bent mission to set things right. Hot on the heels of his work as Thanos, this has become The Summer of Brolin, and he's awesome, having seasoned into an indelible, hugely charismatic presence of steely intimidation.
Leitch does an incredible job with the scenes where Cable explodes into the present. Shot by Jonathan Sela (John Wick) and cut by a team lead by Craig Alpert, Cable's arrival is ruthlessly kinetic and evokes the heat and pneumatic violence of James Cameron's first two Terminator films. Cable's character design is superb, and he instantly becomes an iconic character.
Deadpool can't do everything by himself - after all, he's got to comment on not just the X-men, but this movie and Hollywood in general - so he recruits his own band of gifted mutant miscreants, dubbing them "X-Force." Newcomer Zazie Beets as Domino, steals the picture just as effectively as Tessa Thompson did in Thor: Ragnarok. Her superpower is being lucky, and Leitch (along with screenwriters Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick and Ryan Reynolds) take that less flashy-sounding ability and make it inventively tangible in one dynamite scene after another.
Here's the weird thing: back to director Tim Miller. As Terminator as things feel here, Miller and Reynolds had some of those pesky old artistic differences and parted ways, and now Miller's been hand-picked by James Cameron to direct next year's reboot of his Terminator franchise - ignoring the last three misfires as though they never happened.
There are plenty of surprises (and cameos - Dickie Greenleaf!) in Deadpool 2, so the less I say about further specifics, the more fun you'll have - and this picture is one helluva lot of fun. Like the first film, if you're easily offended, you should probably swipe left and look elsewhere. But if you dug the original, Wade, Cable and the X-Force are waiting to show you a really good, really sticky good time.
Ryan Reynolds has found a character he can really paint the town with, and he wreaks every kind of havoc you can imagine here. New director David Leitch (Atomic Blonde) fills the void left by departing original director Tim Miller (more on that later), diving headlong into the action right out of the gate. The opening credits are a gut-busting send-up of the opening titles of every Roger Moore Bond picture's design-heavy kaleidoscope.
Wade Wilson doesn't handle tragedy well - and when his over-the-top healing factor throws a wrench in his self-immolating intentions, he decides to channel his need to save something into becoming the best X-Man ever! Well, best trainee ever. And in a world where mutant misbehavior is carefully monitored, he soon finds himself in the mother of all super-max prisons - the Ice Box.
What's great about this second outing is Reynolds doesn't just caper and smirk. Deadpool's 'tude comes from a place of real pain - and serious loss - and Reynolds does terrific work carrying the film's more serious moments as well.
So about that Terminator. Wade's immediate plans are disrupted by the arrival of a hard-case cyborg from the future - Cable (Josh Brolin) - who's journeyed through time on his own hell-bent mission to set things right. Hot on the heels of his work as Thanos, this has become The Summer of Brolin, and he's awesome, having seasoned into an indelible, hugely charismatic presence of steely intimidation.
Leitch does an incredible job with the scenes where Cable explodes into the present. Shot by Jonathan Sela (John Wick) and cut by a team lead by Craig Alpert, Cable's arrival is ruthlessly kinetic and evokes the heat and pneumatic violence of James Cameron's first two Terminator films. Cable's character design is superb, and he instantly becomes an iconic character.
Deadpool can't do everything by himself - after all, he's got to comment on not just the X-men, but this movie and Hollywood in general - so he recruits his own band of gifted mutant miscreants, dubbing them "X-Force." Newcomer Zazie Beets as Domino, steals the picture just as effectively as Tessa Thompson did in Thor: Ragnarok. Her superpower is being lucky, and Leitch (along with screenwriters Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick and Ryan Reynolds) take that less flashy-sounding ability and make it inventively tangible in one dynamite scene after another.
Here's the weird thing: back to director Tim Miller. As Terminator as things feel here, Miller and Reynolds had some of those pesky old artistic differences and parted ways, and now Miller's been hand-picked by James Cameron to direct next year's reboot of his Terminator franchise - ignoring the last three misfires as though they never happened.
There are plenty of surprises (and cameos - Dickie Greenleaf!) in Deadpool 2, so the less I say about further specifics, the more fun you'll have - and this picture is one helluva lot of fun. Like the first film, if you're easily offended, you should probably swipe left and look elsewhere. But if you dug the original, Wade, Cable and the X-Force are waiting to show you a really good, really sticky good time.
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