Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *
Cast: Josh Brolin, Ryan Reynolds, Morena Baccarin, Zazie Beetz, Brianna Hildebrand, Brad Pitt, Bill Skarsgård, Matt Damon, T.J.Miller, Terry Crews, Rob Delaney, Alan Tudyk, Julian Dennison, Lewis Tan, Jack Kesy, Eddie Marsan, Shioli Kutsuna, Hayley Sales, Stefan Kapicic, Karan Soni, Sala Baker, Nicholas Hoult, James McAvoy, Evan Peters, Tye Sheridan.
In the land of the sequel, the audience is normally attuned to the fact that by and large the film will be below par, sometimes disastrously with a plot that was based on profit potential, sometimes just out of plain high expectation, but the result will be the same, that like most films, the sequel is never in the same class as the original.
Deadpool 2 doesn’t just buck that trend, it harbours the responsibility shouldered in recent years by Marvel and Fox alike to showcase the heroes created by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and all those that have walked in the gilded halls of the New York office, in such a positive light that it makes all the attempts before to capture this special breed of story-telling, seem half hearted, falling into the shadows of disrespect and alienation.
Its secret is in the mask it wears perhaps, the wise cracking persona of Ryan Reynolds allowed free reign and unrelenting appreciation in the character of Wade Wilson/Deadpool, the captured zeitgeist in modern day society and the duty we owe to the past to remedy laid down ills and suffering of intolerance, whatever the reason, Deadpool and its sequel are to be seen as the perfect antidote for the more serious and demanding films in the MCU.
Admiration just doesn’t come from the tightness of the script and its willingness to break feared taboos, it is in the closeness of the cast, the ability and prowess of its cast to capture the very essence of what makes Deadpool a sure-fire hit.
In the pairing of Josh Brolin and Ryan Reynolds, the audience could not ask for a more light and dark experience, both actors having had their fair share of knock backs, and their suitability to be in each other’s company is more than reassuring. With the addition of the excellent Julian Dennison, who grabbed the viewer’s attention with youthful brilliance in 2016’s Hunt For The Wilderpeople, Zazie Beetz as Domino and Eddie Marsan once again proving the point of being one of the finest actors on the planet today, Deadpool 2 is a screaming success, an absolutely dead on sequel which delivers everything fan and cinema goer alike could ask for.
No hopes have been shattered, no dreams put under the sword, this is one sequel that knows just how much its forbearer was loved and has striven to be as perfectly charming and insanely cool as it was; brilliant doesn’t come close to describing Deadpool 2, but it is as good as you find till a new word is invented.
Ian D. Hall