Led by Ryan Reynolds as the Merc with a Mouth, Deadpool 2 is a wildly entertaining ride that ups the stakes after 2016’s hit predecessor.

David Leitch takes over the director’s chair for Tim Miller but it is as if nothing has changed.  The screenplay is full of pop culture opportunities to joke about.  Honestly, it may be even more meta than the earlier film.  The jokes are all over the place. Jokes references include Deadpool‘s box office and characters in The Avengers.

Perhaps the biggest thing that Deadpool 2 has going for it is how to up the stakes following Wolverine’s death in Logan.  Because Wolverine went out in Logan, Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) decides that the character needs to end his life in the film.  Wilson’s death and a cold open lead into a James Bond-esque opening credits.  Whether Wilson likes it or not, it wasn’t his time to go.

Deadpool 2 spends time introducing Cable (Josh Brolin) and setting up the “forward-thinking, gender-neutral” X-Force franchise.  The film has a fun way of putting together the X-Force through a montage. Their first mission goes, well, only as one can go in a Deadpool film.  Among the X-Force recruits, Domino (Zazie Beetz) has the largest role.  Other than the murder of his wife and daughter by Firefist in the future, there’s no mention of Cable’s backstory.  There is nothing about how he’s the son of Scott Summers and Jean Grey’s clone, Madelyne Pryor.  While comic book fans might know Cable’s backstory, the average movie goer might not.  Brolin has a four-picture deal so this could be brought up later.

Recruited by the X-Men’ Colossus (Stefan Kapičić) and Negasonic Teenage Warhead (Brianna Hildebrand) as a trainee, Deadpool joins them in hope of stopping Firefist from doing any more harm at the Essex House for Mutant Rehabilitation.  They really stress the whole trainee part.  The character of Russell Collins/Firefist (Julian Dennison) sets in motion the events that take Cable back in time.  We learn that Wilson befriends Russell after they are taken into custody.

While there are no credits at the very end of Deadpool 2, there are a few mid-credit scenes that are very important and not-to-miss.  These may be among the best ever in any Marvel film!  As far as ANY film ever produced by Marvel Studios, be it X-Men, Fantastic Four, or the films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, these credits are going to have a lot of people talking.  No spoilers here but be sure to stick around when the credits start to roll!  Trust me, you don’t want to miss them!

The film missed a huge opportunity by not recasting Miller’s role of Weasel.  Put it this way:  it wasn’t until I got my screening invite in which I finally decided to see the film.  Until then, I was planning to skip it out of principle. (See link here and here). Miller’s presence is minimal at best.  Maybe a mere ten-to-fifteen minutes of screen time?  This franchise is the perfect franchise to pull off the recasting with meta humor.  However, it was confirmed during the winter TCA press tour that the film was just starting the final editing process when the news broke in late December.  There was plenty of time to get Christopher Plummer suited up for the job.  What is confirmed right now is that Miller’s future with the franchise is likely finished.

Deadpool 2 isn’t a perfect film but that goes without saying.  When this film gets it right, they get it right.

DIRECTOR:  David Leitch
SCREENWRITERS:  Rhett Reese & Paul Wernick & Ryan Reynolds
CAST:  Ryan Reynolds, Josh Brolin, Morena Baccarin, Julian Dennison, Zazie Beetz, T.J. Miller, Brianna Hildebrand, Jack Kesy