"foX-Men" Re-Watch: Deadpool 2

 "Deadpool 2" (2018)

After the monstrous success of the first "Deadpool," it was only a matter of time before a pumped up sequel hit theaters. And just as he teased in the post credits scene of the first film, "Deadpool 2" brings in Wade's "friend,"the time-traveling mutant known as Cable. You're looking for a live action version of X-Force? Well, this is the movie for you... well... sort of.

Principal photography on "Deadpool 2" began in June 2017 and ended in October 2017. The film stars Ryan Reynolds as Wade Wilson/Deadpool, Josh Brolin as Cable, Morena Baccarin as Vanessa, Julian Dennison as Russell Collins/Firefist, Zazie Beetz as Domino, T.J. Miller as Weasel, Brianna Hildebrand as Negasonic Teenage Warhead, Jack Kesy as Black Tom Cassidy and Stefan Kapicic as Colossus. The film was written by Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick and Ryan Reynolds. It was directed by David Leitch. "Deadpool 2" premiered on May 18, 2018.

X-Force

"Deadpool 2" is basically everything you want out of a sequel to "Deadpool." If you loved the original, then you're going to love this movie. If you thought it was crass and overly violent, well, you should probably just stop reading this right now and never watch any "Deadpool" movie ever. The plot of the movie is pretty straightforward. Deadpool is living the life of a contract killer when his work life impacts his home life in the worst possible way and Vanessa is killed. Wade despairs and not even joining up as an X-Man trainee can lift him out of his funk. After he and a young mutant, Russell Collins, are thrown in the Ice Box, a mutant prison, things take a turn for the even worse. A mutant from the future, Cable, shows up to kill Russell because of things he'll do in the future and Deadpool makes it his mission to save the young mutant.

I feel like I have to start this off with my least favorite thing about this movie: the fridging of Vanessa. If you're not familiar, this is the shorthand for the "women in refrigerators" trope. It was coined by comic book writer, Gail Simone, and refers to the killing of then Green Lantern, Kyle Rayner's girlfriend, Alexandra DeWitt, by the villain Major Force by... you guessed it... shoving her in a refrigerator. Shockingly (that's sarcasm, folks) this happens to women in comics a lot. And it's basically what happens to Vanessa in "Deadpool 2." It's like they couldn't figure out what to do with her, so they killed her to motivate Wade. It's cheap. And for a movie that is relatively smart, you have to be to make all these dumb jokes, it's a pretty lame cop out. The writers have said they were unfamiliar with the "fridging" trope, which I don't think I believe, and I know that Vanessa is saved through time travel at the end, but it's still something that didn't really need to happen in the first place.

Firefist... no seriously.

Ryan Reynolds continues to be one of the best comic book live action castings of all-time. Seriously. This dude just gets it. He knows Deadpool inside and out and if I'm being honest, it's difficult for me to see him as anything other than Deadpool. That's great but also not great. Even though I'm not a huge of Vanessa dying, I do like that it brings out different facets of Wade's character. We love the wisecracking, sword happy Wade, but we also love the Wade that is serious, determined and not fucking around. We really get that when Wade goes after the escaping assassin that kills Vanessa. A lot of the violence in "Deadpool 2" is super over the top and played for laughs. It definitely isn't here. Wade stalks his prey and there is no joking. This is literally deadly serious. I think the first time I watched this movie I gasped audibly when Wade grabbed the dude and threw them both into the path of that oncoming semi.

We get some great new characters in "Deadpool 2." Josh Brolin joins the played two different Marvel characters club along with Chris Evans. Brolin also portrays Thanos in the MCU, in case you've been living under a rock and didn't know that. Brolin is great as Cable. He's taciturn. Surly. He doesn't smile. He's the perfect foil for Wade. And with his "Winter Soldier" arm, he can throw down. Cable kind of gets a Punisher-style backstory with Russell murdering his family after he gets a taste for killing in the past. 

We are introduced to the mutant Domino portrayed by "Atlanta's" Zazie Beetz. There was an uproar when Beetz was cast as Domino which all boils down to racism. And just an FYI, if you were trying to justify your racism by making the excuse that the only reason you had an issue was because Domino's face is white, guess what, you're still racist. Beetz is great as Domino. Domino is a cool character and Beetz just radiates that cool. Wade spends a lot of time criticizing her luck powers, but they are some of the coolest sequences in the film. From her being the only surviving member of X-Force and hitting the transport to landing on the inflatable panda or crushing the orderlies head with the dresser. Domino might be my favorite part of this movie.

Trainee

If you were thinking that "Deadpool 2" was going to neglect two of it's breakout stars, Colossus and Negasonic Teenage Warhead, you'd be incorrect. They are back, back, back, back, back again. Colossus is trying to pull Wade out of his funk and make him an official X-Man. Deadpool cocks this up immediately, but we get some great gags. Wade riding Xavier's wheelchair throughout the X-Mansion. Lamenting that the only X-Men around are Colossus and NTW, just as the young X-Men quietly close the door to Xavier's study. We get Wade misusing Cerebro. It's great inside stuff that and X-fan will absolutely eat up. Wade and his interactions with Colossus and especially Negasonic Teenage Warhead continue to be fantastic and the addition of Negasonic's adorable girlfriend, Yukio, make these interactions even better.

Leading up to the release of "Deadpool 2," there was a lot of talk about the debut of X-Force. And we get that, only, it doesn't last very long. X-Force is peppered with famous faces. There is Terry Crews as Bedlam, Bill Skarsgard as Zeitgeist, Brad Pitt as The Vanisher, Lewis Tan as Shatterstar and Rob Delaney as Deadpool's "sugarbear" Peter. As soon as you hear about the wind and you know the team is parachuting, you know things are going to go really bad as each member of X-Force save Domino die a gruesome death. Though Wade does make sure that when he has Cable's time device that he goes back and saves Peter.

We get a somewhat comic accurate version of Juggernaut in "Deadpool 2." Much more accurate than the internet catchphrase spewing version from "X-Men: The Last Stand." The way Juggernaut was modeled was pretty cool. The face was modeled after the director's while Reynolds provided the voice and motion capture for him. His voice was digitally pitched down. Juggernaut is the unstoppable beast from the comics and his match up with Colossus is great. It's nice to see Colossus actually go toe to toe with a foe that is on his level. Sorry not sorry, Angel Dust. 

Dom *heart eyes*

I haven't said much about Russell Collins aka Firefist and there's not too much to say. I'm not a huge fan of child actors but Julian Dennison acquits himself well for what he has to do. His character is pretty cut and past. He's a kid you've seen a lot in movies like this. Lots of false bravado. Swearing and it's funnier because it's a kid.

A lot of the comedy in "Deadpool 2" is top notch. There are a ton of great one liners and the physical comedy is great too. I mean, how could you not be cracking up when you see the visual of Deadpool with his baby legs growing back. It's absurd and perfect for the character. That's why all the prison jokes fall really flat. The prison wallet stuff is too juvenile even for Deadpool and the fact that these jokes are aimed at a teenager make them a little more icky. It would be better if this was a one off, but the jokes keep coming back over and over throughout the film. No wonder Russell wants to kill Deadpool. 

The mid and post credits scenes for "Deadpool 2" follow the irreverent, fourth wall breaking that the character is known for. We get him saving Vanessa. We get him killing the bastardized version of "Deadpool" from "X-Men Origins Wolverine" and even killing Ryan Reynolds when he receives the script for "Green Lantern," which is possibly the funniest gag in the whole film. And, in a call back to the convo about killing Baby Hitler with Cable, Wade thinks about it.

Lots has changed since "Deadpool 2" was released in 2018. Marvel acquired 20th Century Fox, which means that Deadpool is primed to join the MCU. Kevin Feige has confirmed that the third DP movie will continue to be rated R and it will be interesting to see how it navigates it's new home and if it interacts with any of the MCU characters and to what extent.

Next up, we close out the First Class films with "X-Men: Dark Phoenix."

What do you all think of "Deadpool 2?" Do you prefer it to the original? What do you hope to see in a third film? Let me know in the comments.