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Tag: deadpool 2

MOVIE REVIEW Deadpool 2 (2018)

Fair warning: considerable spoilers follow – read after watching.

I mean, if you needed a palette cleanser after that bummer of an ending (in a good way) of Avengers: Infinity War, you couldn’t ask for much better than Deadpool 2: a big budget blockbuster superhero movie packed with jokes and pop culture references that steadfastly refuses to take itself too seriously.

We pick up with Wade Wilson/Deadpool (played again by the born-for-this Ryan Reynolds) a couple of years after he kills Francis on the not-a-helicarrier (wink-wink) and find he has been working as a mercenary for hire, taking down bad guys all over the world. However, after one of the missions goes awry, Deadpool loses someone he loves and finds himself trying to figure out who he is.

That search takes form in the rescue of a teenage boy, orphan Russell Collins (played by Hunt For The Wilderpeople’s Julian Dennison), who is being pursued first by the X-Men for attacking the skeezy headmaster at the orphanage where he lives, and later by complicated would-be villain Cable (played by Josh Brolin; big month for him). After Wade and Russell are locked up together, Cable attacks the boy but is held off by Deadpool.

The prison ruined, Deadpool puts together a super-team – the X-Force (we’ll get to them in a minute) – to protect Russell from a second attack by Cable while the prisoners are being moved. But their actions lead to a prison break and Russell teams up with a surprising ally (more on him in a minute too), forcing Deadpool and Cable to team up to stop him from killing the skeezy headmaster, which would lead to the death of Cable’s family in the future.

Okay, a lot to unpack there.

I mean, the storyline is fine. I guess. I don’t know, you tend not to measure the success of a film like Deadpool 2 by the strength of its story. Structurally speaking, these films are made in the image of some of those huge eighties-style action flicks; you wouldn’t pick apart the story telling in The Terminator or Rambo or Commando, and you can’t really do it here.

For me, I was amazed by how many elements of the story were kept away from the public. As I went in to see the film, I had no idea why exactly Cable was after this kid, or even who this kid was (Dennison is actually playing a well-known mutant named Firefist); the death of Vanessa, Wade’s girlfriend from the first film, before the opening credits was a massive shock, played perfectly by the credits themselves (similarly to the first film, none of the credits have names, instead reading things like “Directed by HOLY SHIT IS SHE DEAD?”); and from what I can remember, none of the third act was included in any of the trailers or promotional materials.

And to be honest, those weren’t even the biggest surprises.

In the second act, Wade puts together a super-team: super-lucky femme fatale Domino (Zazie Beetz), electro-manipulator Bedlam (Terry Crews), shockwave creator Shatterstar (Lewis Tan), acid-vomiter Zeitgeist (Bill Skarsgard), invisible man Vanisher (Brad Pitt, no seriously) and Peter (Rob Delaney), who just saw the ad. And all of them – every single one of them with the exception of Domino because luck – dies horribly shortly after parachuting out of that plane in the trailers. Even Brad Pitt, who you only see for a second or so after he crashes into a power line.

Even more surprising, Russell teams up with a surprisingly large ally – the insanely popular character Juggernaut, who appears here as a CGI character voiced by Reynolds himself. Juggernaut famously appears in X-Men: The Last Stand, played by Vinnie Jones, but is given a much more comic accurate treatment here, even if he is a little more foul-mouthed.

I could go on and on with a list of things in this film that were both surprising and entertaining – the brief cameo by the X-Men cast of James MacAvoy, Evan Peters, Nicholas Hoult and co; the post credits scene in which Deadpool kills Ryan Reynolds after accepting the script for Green Lantern; the myriad references to the MCU (“Black Black Widow”, “Brown Panther”, “shut it, Thanos”, give me a bow and arrow and I’m Hawkeye”) – but suffice to say that the number of jokes and references and easter eggs made for the geekiest cinema experience I’ve had in a while.

The core of Deadpool 2 is much the same as the first film – and Reynolds’ take on the character is just as funny and entertaining as ever – but it is these little (and some big) surprises that made the film a delight.

Deadpool 2 is directed by David Leitch from a script by Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick and Ryan Reynolds, and stars Ryan Reynolds, Josh Brolin, Morena Baccarin, Julian Dennison, Zazie Beetz, TJ Miller, Brianna Hildebrand and Stefan Kapicic – as well as a literal ton of cameos. It is in cinemas now.

18 films I’m looking forward to in 2018

Now that 2017 is in the bag, let’s take a look forward at some of the films I’m most looking forward to this year …

The Shape Of Water (Jan 18)
Guillermo del Toro is at his best when he tackles a more intimate story like Pan’s Labyrinth or Crimson Peak – or like this period piece starring Sally Hawkins as a maintenance worker who falls for a captive sea creature.

Downsizing (Jan 25)
Alexander Payne directs Matt Damon and Hong Chau in this film about a future where humans can be shrunk to around 15cms tall in the name of conservation. Several outlets called this the best film of 2017. Colour me fascinated.

Cloverfield Movie/God Particle (Feb 1)
The less I know about this going in, the better. All I can tell you is that I love Cloverfield and 10 Cloverfield Lane.

Black Panther (Feb 15)
Avengers: Infinity War (Apr 25)
Ant-Man & The Wasp (Jul 5)
Marvel’s Cinematic Universe hits the first of its closing chapters in April when everybody gets together in Avengers: Infinity War – but before that, Black Panther returns for a solo film set in the fictional country of Wakanda. Panther is one of the best comic books in production right now, and I have high hopes for his solo flick. Plus, the Ant-Man sequel in July should be a lot of fun too.

Annihilation (Feb 23; mid-March on Netflix)
Natalie Portman plays a scientist who investigates a mysterious (and likely alien) phenomena after the disappearance and reappearance of her husband. A visually splendiferous film from the team who brought you Ex Machina – and thanks to producer fuckery, we get to see it on Netflix!

Ready Player One (Mar 29)
If you can name all the references in the below trailer for this film – directed by Steven Spielberg and based on the pop culture-heavy sci-fi novel from Ernest Cline – I will give you $50. I feel sure that you can’t.

The New Mutants (Apr 12)
Deadpool 2 (May 31)
X-Men: Dark Phoenix (Nov 1)
The line-up of X-Men films from Fox suddenly got a lot more interesting last month when Disney purchased Fox, with talk that the X-Men would be rolled in to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Will these form the final chapters of this franchise? Will Deadpool reference the MCU in any way? Will New Mutants – a horror film – be used as a jumping off point? My guess is that Deadpool will tie-in down the track, and New Mutants will remain a standalone.

Solo: A Star Wars Story (May 24)
Also suddenly an intriguing proposition given the behind-the-scenes shenanigans, lacklustre response to Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, and the recent backlash to Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Plus, this film is coming out in like five months, and there is no trailer yet? Hmm.

Jurassic World 2: Fallen Kingdom (Jun 21)
You know what? Jurassic World was fine – it was fine! And Chris Pratt is charming. And dinosaurs! DINOSAURS, MAN!

The Incredibles 2 (Jun 28)
Ralph Breaks The Internet: Wreck-It Ralph 2 (Dec 26)
A sequel to one of the greatest superhero films ever made, and a sequel to one of the most-under-rated pop-culture-heavy animated films of the last few years? I’m in.

The Predator (Aug 2)
Shane Black is one of our best action writers/directors – Lethal Weapon 1 and 2, Iron Man 3 and The Nice Guys, to name just a couple – plus he has a link with the original Predator film, which is still one of the best action/sci-fi films ever made. And an intriguing cast: Sterling K Brown, Boyd Holbrook, Olivia Munn, Keegan-Michael Key, Alfie Allen … okay, okay, I’m keen.

Mortal Engines (Dec 13)
Peter Jackson produces this dystopian/cyberpunk epic about a world in which entire cities are mounted on wheels and hunt each other across the globe – it sounds insane, but it also sounds (and looks) insanely good.

Aquaman (Dec 26)
No film in 2018 has as much riding on it as Aquaman: following the reception to Justice League, Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice, Suicide Squad and Man Of Steel, it needs to be a critical and financial hit, or else it risks sinking DC/Warners’ movie plans. Luckily, they’ve proven they can make a good solo flick (Wonder Woman), so there is at least some hope. No trailer yet, but enjoy this GIF:

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What films are you looking forward to in 2018?

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