Settling down with his girlfriend Vanessa, Wade is living a life split between extreme violence and starting a family. Wade finds that something is lacking in his world, and begins to seek a change of pace, and when a trainee outing with the X-Men leads Wade to encounter an overweight kid with incredible mutant powers and a serious anger control issue, Wade embarks on a journey to discover what it is he's really missing.
It's violent, it's crass, it's bloody, but most importantly, Deadpool 2 is simply funnier than the first one.
The jokes hit harder, the deliveries are perfect, and every character has moments to shine. Wade's signature fourth wall breaking observations are better timed than ever, especially when sharing scenes with the perfectly straight faced Cable, and some well placed unexpected cameos are used to devastatingly hilarious effect.
Where Deadpool's first cinematic outing gave us a hard R rating in almost every way it could, Deadpool 2 takes a touch more subtle approach, believe it or not. There's still a huge amount of violence, but with a few notable exceptions, most of the damage is inflicted upon the indestructible titular merc himself.
Whereas the first Deadpool had heavy sub-genre elements of horror, Deadpool 2 orients itself around family. It's surprising, and it's actually pretty heartfelt at times. What makes the dramatic undercurrents really work is the balance board job that's been pulled off with the writing here. The comedy doesn't get in the way of the emotion, and vice versa. In many places they enhance each other unexpectedly.
One of the flaws in Deadpool's prior film was a near total lack of sub-plots, and a general feel of undeveloped side characters. Everyone took a second fiddle to Wade.
While Wade himself is bigger, more complex, and definitely as lovable as ever here, Deadpool 2 flourishes in the notion of the team. Old favorites return, bigger and better, and a whole host of new faces make an appearance. There's a lot to love in the new cast, and if you're a fan of the comics, there's some deep cuts here for you that will be well received. X-Force really do get the movie treatment they've always rightfully deserved.
Cable is a character long absent from the big screen, and Brolin has fun with the steely-eyed foil to Wade's wisecracking, although his gun-toting action scenes don't quite hold up against Deadpool's martial arts intensity. With the deadpan delivery of most of the rest of the cast, it's also fun to have a character who speaks as fast and as sharply as Wade, and Zazie Beetz's intense Domino is a witty and immensely likable addition, as well as it being pleasantly surprisingly that she's not introduced as a love interest.
The whole film has a frenetic pace, and keeps it up through most of the run time. Quicker on the draw and with a clearer act structure than its predecessor, the film travels fast, from a gritty maximum security mutant prison to high speed car chases, from Blind Al's living room to the X-Mansion, the world around Wade and his allies is fleshed out, lived in and lively.
There's more to Deadpool this time around, it's not just his story, it's a whole cast of characters playing their part. It's a lot of fun to enjoy, and it feels a little like we're not done with the story of Wade Wilson just yet.
