MadCap (And A Ginger!) At The Movies - "Deadpool 2"

Yep, that's right. Stoopidkid425 and I hit the movies again! This time, it was the cinematic opus of Ryan Reynolds - Deadpool 2! Now, I know what you're thinking - "MadCap, you incredibly virile and sexy man who is just far, far too handsome to have anything resembling a consistent release schedule! How could they possibly told the absolutely nearly-perfect 1:1 translation from comic book to film that the first film did?" Well first, you can go ahead and stop licking my boots, I assure you they are very clean by now. Second, I have to be entirely honest with you here my readership - but Stoopidkid and I agreed, they pretty much nailed it.

Spoilers follow on from this point so, if you're not ready for them, go and see the movie before reading on.




Seen it? Okay, good.

An unknown amount of time after the first Deadpool movie (Wikipedia claims it's been two years as in real life, but I don't recall that being referenced at all within the film), Wade Wilson (Reynolds) is still Canadian's golden boy out there doing the do as a horrifically-disfigured cafeteria chef (or, if you've been paying attention, a professional assassin). However, he has to put the brakes on a job when he has to rush home for his anniversary with Vanessa (Morena Baccarin). They're going to start a family and everything seems hunky-dory and anyone who knows anything about action movie clichés knows that that isn't going to last long.

Despite Wade's best efforts, Vanessa is killed by the target he had to skip out on for their anniversary. Wade is, naturally, devastated by this and does the only rational thing that someone can do in this situation - gets a bunch of explosives and makes a crater out of their apartment to attempt to kill himself.

...hang on, did I say rational?

Now there are certain individuals on the internet who seem to insist that this is an example of "fridging" - taken from a Green Lantern issue (#54, 1994 if you want to look it up) where Kyle Rayner finds his girlfriend in a refrigerator - where a female character is killed off to further the story of a male character, a love interest or sometimes a father or a son. I would argue that this is something that happens to all supporting characters because supporting characters exist to support the story of the main character.

Also, the death of Jason Todd furthered the story of Bruce Wayne.

And the death of Bucky Barnes (though later retconned) furthered the story of Steve Rogers.

And the death of Mar-Vell furthered the story of Carol Danvers.

AND the death of Uncle Ben furthered the story of Peter Parker.

Where's the tears for them? Or is it just because you want something to be outraged by? Think about that. I await your angry comments telling me I'm a sexist piece of trash even though that's bullshit.

But regardless of nonsensical debates that ignore the fact that some adversity has to happen in order to further a story or it will be really, really boring, we need to get back to something that isn't. Namely, Deadpool 2. After exploding, Death does not come for Deadpool and instead, Colossus (Stefan Kapičić') comes along and brings Wade back to the Xavier's School for the Gifted to heal up. After some words from Colossus that echo Vanessa's words earlier in the film, Wade joins up with the X-Men.

Becoming a full X-Man (trainee), Wade's first mission brings to an orphanage for mutants that goes by the name of Essex (which should chill more than a few comic fans' bones), where he meets a raging youth by the name of Russell Collins (Julian Dennison), a pryokinetic. Wade at first attempts Colossus' approach of "four or five moments", but upon learning that Russell has been abused by the headmaster of the orphanage (Eddie Marsan) he decides to try and off the guy, which lands both he and Russell in a mutant prison known as the Icebox.

And this is where the other big name comes in - Cable (Josh Brolin). When his wife and daughter are murdered by Russell in the future, so Cable gets himself a handy-dandy time travel device to go back to kill him before he can grow up to be the guy who does it - Terminator style.

And for those you, again, who call this an example of "fridging" (yet another term that has become meaningless from overuse), feel free to scroll back up to my previous rant and get all mad again. Go on. Do it.

But Cable does indeed come back to the past and seeks out Russell in the mutant prison. Wade ends up blabbing about not actually caring about the kid and, after getting his ass kicked, has a vision of Vanessa that convinces him to help him. Thus, Wade gets back together with Weasel (TJ Miller) to form the totally-not-sexist group X-Force, who have been chosen by a higher power (Yes, Wade calls himself God) to save Russell and stop Cable.

To this end, Wade recruits Bedlam (Terry Crews), Shatterstar (Lewis Tan), Zeitgeist (Bill Skarsgård), The Vanisher (Brad Pitt cameo), Peter (Rob Delaney), and Domino (Zazie Beetz).

Considering all but one of those people is dead during the initial drop down as a joke, and the person who survives is not the one that's not Domino, I don't really feel the need to talk about the others. They're all effective for their literal five minutes.

So, Domino was marketed as the big third part of the trio in this film, rather like Uhura in the Abrams Star Trek films. Unlike those movies and Uhura in them, Domino does actually do something besides look pretty and fawn over her gay for Chris Pine teammate. She's an effective fighter, and the rant about her powers that Wade goes on is probably the second funniest moment in the entire film, which is saying something.

She does well. I'm not a huge fan of Domino from the comics, but I don't really see too much of a reason to call foul on this one.

Except maybe for the afro. I understand the need to differentiate, but the 1970s called and say they want their hair back.

From there, it's a standard "save the kid, save the future" storyline. There's the explored theme of family as Wade finds his within X-Force and assorted X-Men buddies. The jokes are excellent and go in directions one might not expect (though that's par for the course with Deadpool) as it dances between the real and fictional worlds with only the ease that Deadpool can bring. People have said it's even better than the first one, and I do have to agree in some places. While the first film is icon in just how good it was - the second one has taken perfection and built upon it.

I do hope, when Disney swallows up Fox in their desire to consume everything across the entertainment multiverse, that they take a look at this little film that could, and sign up Ryan Reynolds to play Deadpool in literally everything forever.

If you're going to do it, Disney, at least make a good choice here.

Deadpool 2 is now in theaters from Marvel Entertainment and 20th Century Fox.

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