David Leitch
Deadpool 2

Obviously, the surprise effect of the first film is gone, there's no point in discussing that. What does make sense is conducting an accurate comparison with the aspects that made the first chapter great and with higher-level comic book films in general, which now represent a vast population of movies.

The Deadpool saga confirms itself as one of the freshest and most irreverent, that's for sure. A profusion of jokes, vulgarities, insults to other films, and metacinematic slits that can't help but entice the audience. In fact, sometimes the flow of inventions is almost too dense, risking not being able to appreciate everything fully.

This time it strongly targets mockery aimed at competing films like Infinity War and Batman vs Superman, with the latter being the subject of one of the best jokes. The abundant vulgarities are also laugh-inducing, but sometimes they seem excessive and not proportional to the situations. There's also laughter from the trash, from episodes that could be called stupid, but are artfully inserted into the flow of action and work precisely because of that. It’s the alternation between action, violence, drama on one side and irreverent spirit on the other that makes the formula work, neither element alone is enough. The primary risks are twofold. That of going overboard with the silly moments and that of making the serious moments too dramatic. Both are occasionally skirted, shaving a few points off a film that's overall well-made. But it's clear the formula still needs some tweaking and perfecting.

Also, because a cinema born as parody risks living and dying in symbiosis with its Apollonian twin. Without light, there's no shadow, there can't be the Dionysian. In the era dominated by Marvel, a film like this appears very fresh and even better than the more canonical Iron Man, etc., but perhaps primarily due to a game of a priori opposition. A parody merely sanctions the fame and success of its polemical target.

An anti-hero, in the end, is a bit of a hero too. So Deadpool is a bit of a comic book film as well as its caustic deformation. And in these shoes, it works reasonably well, with friends and allies that get mixed up, with brutal and bloody action, with protagonists well characterized despite their essential absurdity. There’s a fine balance of script weight and counterweight that keeps the overall sense of the story hidden until beyond the middle of the film, if not more.

The action is entrusted to the skilled hands of the director of John Wick and Atomic Blonde. And if the slow-mos may seem too many, rest assured, there'll be a joke from the protagonist about this. As well as there are jabs directed at the film itself when some somewhat choppy passages are commented on with the exclamation “weak script!” by the masked hero. But it would be easy and naive to make a truly weak film and think of redeeming it with "meta" jokes aimed at itself. No, Deadpool 2 is much more solid than many other superhero films, even in the canonical aspects, but with the not insignificant bonus of being able to exploit - properly - the entire irreverent arsenal that belongs to this saga.

Perhaps the least successful and clear is also the most important provocation, the one about the difficult distinction between killings for good and not. Which is then, logically absurd.

6.5/10