Review of Deadpool 2 (2018) by Ittiaces — 17 May 2018

Directed by David Leitch and starring the inimitable Ryan Reynolds, Deadpool 2 delivers more of the same hilarious R-rated action we were served in the first instalment of this Marvel franchise. Reynolds holds the fort with his on-point portrayal of every fanboy's favourite off the curve comic book hero with a wry, unceasing wit and the explosive energy of a man constantly jacked up on speed.

The action is pretty consistent although there are a few dips into the soppier stuff here and there because....the audience has feelings(yawn)! All said, the pace and is excellent and there's more than enough to hold your attention throughout.

As a cast, there are some very familiar faces as well as some choice cameos from Hollywoods finest. Josh Brolin is fantastic as the big baddie Cable, Zazie Beetz as Domino does some serious scene-stealing and the film's youngest star, Julian Dennison brilliantly portrays the angst-ridden teenager Russell.

On the negative side, I thought the X-men were given too significant a role and took away rather than added to the story. The characters are quite bland and all the humour centred around them had been exhausted the first time around.

Some of the VFX could have been better, notably Colossus and Juggernaut. They never looked convincing, and the animation was distractingly stilted at times. Many of the jokes centred around Colussus, in particular, didn't land.

All in all pretty minor quibbles in what is otherwise a very satisfying venture with plenty of laughs and gory action.