Review: Deadpool 2 (2018) (Lives Up To The Hype? Plus Plus?)

SPOILER-FREE

“Family was always an f-word for me”

I enjoyed the first Deadpool movie. Sure, it sent up comic book film tropes whilst strictly adhering to them, but Ryan Reynolds’ dedication to the role was infectious and the film was fairly funny. I had some hopes for a sequel: whereas the rule for regular film sequels is that they will be worse than the original, the same rule rarely applies to comic book films sequels. With the origin story out of the way, the comic book film sequel has more scope to explore themes, characters and plots. Think of the great superhero films and you think of Spider-Man 2, The Dark Knight, X-Men 2, etc (with the MCU things are different: more often than not, the sequel tends to be worse than the original. But that’s something for a different time!). Could Deadpool 2 be the sequel its marketing made it out to be?

Review: Kick-Ass (2010) (Rated-R for Revolutionary?)

“Come on, be honest with yourself. At some point in our lives we all wanna be a superhero”

In light of the release of ‘Deadpool,’ I thought I’d go back to one of the original “subversive” Rated-R comic book films, ‘Kick-Ass.’ I remember seeing the initial trailers. They promised a satirical and humorous take on the comic book film, and possibly even reinvigorate it. To be fair, it is a pretty decent, pretty humorous, but right from the start it tells a lie. The main character, Kick-Ass, or as he’s known to his fellow schoolmates, Dave Lizewski (in a Spider-Man-esque voiceover), immediately tells us this isn’t the average comic book film, and he isn’t the average comic book hero. But this voice-over is the Richard Nixon of voice-overs.

Review: Deadpool (2016) (Your Atypical Typical Superhero Film…)

“This is a love story”

It’s Valentine’s Day, and you always need a good date movie for V-Day. And what better date movie than the recently released Deadpool? Deadpool promised a subversive comic book movie where the hero isn’t really a hero and all of the typical tropes of the comic book movie are shot to pieces. Or at least that’s what I understood. Instead, what I saw was a comedy that hurled too much at the screen and was as loyal to the traditional comic book movie tropes as any other comic book movie. That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy it; there was so much effort and love poured into this movie that it was hard not to enjoy it. However, much like ‘Kick-Ass,’ it promised a lot more than it delivered.

Review: X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) (Give Me A Break, Bub!)

“Welcome to the war”

The upcoming ‘Deadpool’ won’t be the first time that Ryan Reynolds has played Wade Wilson and his alter ego, Deadpool. We first saw Reynolds as Deadpool in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. After X-Men : The Last Stand, 20^th Century Fox wanted a series of ‘Origin’ films for the X-Men. Following ‘Wolverine,’ there would be one about Magneto. Wolverine was meant to be a new beginning for the X-Men films, which has fallen in quality with the terrible ‘X-Men: The Last Stand’ (why is the third film of a super-hero trilogy always terrible?!?!). However, ‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’ made ‘The Last Stand’ look like ‘X-Men 2.’

Reaction: Deadpool (2016) First Trailer

I just hope he didn’t murder that bear…or he will be eviscerated on social media!

“What if I told you we can make you better?”

So, the first trailer for Deadpool has arrived…and I am heartily impressed! The teaser for the teaser trailer had me excited and in stitches, especially after the reference to Deadpool’s first movie appearance in X-Men Origins: Wolverine (“from the studio that inexplicably sewed his f**king mouth shut the first time!”). When a studio is willing to admit it made a mistake in a film, you’ve got to give them credit. It restored some good will. After the actual teaser trailer, I think all of my good will has been restored! Here’s the trailer: