Thoughts on Deadpool 2 (2018)

Which, by the way, should have been called The Untitled Deadpool Sequel or even DeadTwo; the former would have fit the character and the latter just sounds good to me. But I digress.

This past Sunday, I finally went to see Deadpool 2 and I thought it was pretty good. To be honest, actually, it's probably one of the better superhero movies I have seen (even though Deadpool is not a superhero), and when I say this, I mean it is even better than the first Deadpool movie. I'm not kidding. The first movie was good but once I saw the sequel a few problems with the first one became more apparent in their absence.

Deadpool 2 has just about the same style of writing and humor and level of pacing as the first movie does, and that's a good thing seeing as how well it was done before. Though I suppose the kind of humor could be a turn-off for some people, in which case, they probably shouldn't see it. But for those who liked it the first time around, they should like it the second time around too. The tone was a bit darker at some parts but it didn't seem to dwell on it for very long.

The notable improvements I saw included the way it was shot, the color, and the characters. The first movie was shot okay, but it tended to get a bit messy at parts during the action sequences, especially toward the end. It was also very gray––completely uninteresting in that sense and less inspired. Deadpool 2 seems to fix both of these and it's better for it. The action sequences are more cleanly shot and it looks more interesting, especially color-wise. It's not garish or oversaturated, but it's better.

When I mention the characters, I really just mean a few of them. All the returning ones are pretty good like they were before (with the possible exception of TJ Miller's character, who could get a bit annoying), but I'm talking about the movie-specific ones. I found Francis, the villain from the first movie, to be bland. Sure, the movie lampshaded that a bit, but that didn't change how bland he was. Comparatively, both Cable and Russell are better written, have depth, and clear motivations for their actions, and the interactions between Deadpool and Cable are ones I found particularly interesting and entertaining.

When I mentioned how I thought Deadpool 2 was probably one of the better superhero movies, at least in recent years, I don't mean it lightly. I mean it because, in addition to all that I've mentioned, it's got a consistent tone, it's paced well, the action is well-shot and entertaining, the characters are interesting, the music is good (when I say this, I'm not mentioning the swearing in it or anything, I'm saying this because it fits), and...well, I liked watching it. Icing on the cake is the humor, which isn't necessary to make a good movie, but I found that it worked most of the time.

So basically, if you like crude humor, superhero movies, or the first Deadpool movie, I would recommend seeing this. I saw the first one, was not disappointed, and I was not disappointed with this either, and if I had to give it a score, I would probably give it a seven or an eight out of ten.