鈥淒eadpool 2鈥 is annoying and bad. That鈥檚 all you really need to know, but criticism requires argumentation and examples, and it just so happens that the sequel to the shocking (and shockingly successful) superhero satire is rife with evidence for just how annoying, and yes, also bad it is.
Point the first: As portrayed by Ryan Reynolds, the character of Deadpool, also known as Wade Wilson, has always been annoying. The sarcastic, quippy, red-suited burn victim who can鈥檛 die is one of those guys who substitutes movie references for a personality and thinks he鈥檚 a lot funnier than he actually is. It鈥檚 just that way back in 2016, under the crushing weight of all those endless, self-serious superhero movies, the snarky, silly sendup of 鈥淒eadpool鈥 was a refreshing tonic 鈥 essentially the 鈥淪cary Movie鈥 of superhero movies. Now, all our superhero movies are funny and self-referential, lessening the unique value proposition at stake for 鈥淒eadpool 2.鈥
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As our super-antihero opines in an opening sequence, with all these R-rated comic book movies on his tail, he鈥檚 got to up the ante. But then for some reason the movie just doesn鈥檛 up a single ante. 鈥淒eadpool 2鈥 is a whole lot more of the same, but to extremely diminishing returns. It鈥檚 a thin facsimile of the original film, eschewing storytelling for disorganized bits of hyperviolent cheekiness. Deadpool doesn鈥檛 assemble his team until almost an hour into the film. The main villain鈥檚 motivation isn鈥檛 articulated until an hour and 20 minutes. Until then, it鈥檚 just a chaotic mess of bland fights and sarcastic one-liners.
That鈥檚 just incredibly sloppy screenwriting, something that writers Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick and star Reynolds think they can get away with by having Deadpool deadpan 鈥渓azy screenwriting,鈥 directly into camera. They鈥檙e aware of it, so it鈥檚 OK! The thing is, for all of its self-awareness, the film isn鈥檛 even aware of its own overreliance on tired tropes, such as The Dead Wife 鈥 there are so many Dead Women Motivating Men to action in 鈥淒eadpool 2,鈥 it could have been a Christopher Nolan movie. Now, there鈥檚 a ripe opportunity to parody the overused clich茅, but that just happens to be the one thing 鈥淒eadpool 2鈥 takes completely seriously.
Directed by David Leitch, who helmed 鈥淎tomic Blonde鈥 last year, it鈥檚 a shame that the action and stunts are messy and maintain little sense of space or geography. The whole thing feels weightless, a series of comedy sketches peppered with a few fun cameos, but there鈥檚 nothing with any real physical or even emotional heft. Even the moments between Wade and his girlfriend Vanessa (Morena Baccarin) feel overly affected and ironic.
Deadpool鈥檚 crew X-Force, featuring a spunky Zazie Beetz as the uncommonly charmed Domino, is fun to watch, and provides the freshest, lightest laughs of the movie. You just wish it happened way sooner, instead of all the overly-complicated plot setup, wherein Deadpool realizes he has to save the soul of a young, tortured mutant, Russell, aka Firefist (a crackling Julian Dennison). Josh Brolin, double-dipping on Marvel villain roles, plays Cable, a time-traveling super-soldier who鈥檚 come back to butterfly effect the future. You spend most of the movie whiplashing between comic book references and wondering just who the heck Cable is and what it is he wants.
The fact of the matter is, if you鈥檙e already onboard for this particular brand of irascible irreverence, 鈥淒eadpool 2鈥 just might work for you. But the severe lack of storytelling and spectacle in the film shouldn鈥檛 win any new converts.