Get sold on this pool

Johnson Thomas

Deadpool 2 is seriously funny and that’s because there’s a lot more psychological depth to its audacious, cheeky debunking of the superhero genre myth. 

The film begins with Deadpool aka Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) blowing himself up with a pile of fuel canisters. You needn’t be bothered by that loss because soon enough Wade gets resurrected and is back in business. And he is the one telling you why he did it in the first place.   

As scripted by Reynolds, Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, the furiously wisecracking foul-mouthed mutant, Deadpool, is taken on as an apprentice by X man Colossus(Stefan Kapičić) and Domino(Zazie Beetz) and other X members in order to protect an alienated, rebellious teen mutant, Firefist (Julian Dennison) from assassination by futuristic assassin, time travelling Cyborg, Matthew Cable (Josh Brolin). And things obviously don’t go as planned.

Wade is shown as acutely suicidal but his chances of dying are feeble at best. In fact, there’s nothing that can't be fixed or amended, and that accounts for death too. The cheeky dialogue and Reynolds irreverently cynical voice-over make sure that there’s no soppy, emotion heavy drama to overcome. Deadpool’s fast-talking verbosity aids him in wriggling out of the tightest of spots.

The narrative is designed in such a way that it acknowledges its own frivolity and superciliousness without being apologetic. This is a formulaic encounter replete with nostalgic musical serenades, pop-culture references and retroactive criticisms of genre fixations. Slapstick and body count are par for the course. Indian fans will be particularly interested to know that Deadpool’s favourite cabby Dopinder (Karan Soni) has a larger role to play in this outing. Even ‘Yunh Hi Chala Chal’ from ‘Swades’ simmers in the background while Dopinder asserts his desire to be an X man himself.  

Deadpool mocks everybody—from Hawkeye to Green Lantern, the DC universe gets a zinger, Marvel comes in for a put-down while Frozen’s ‘Do you want to build a snowman’ is pointedly critiqued as a possibly plagiarised version of ‘Papa, can you hear me?’ from Yentl, and you can’t help but burst out laughing at his antics.

There's action aplenty with Reynolds' charismatic irreverence in full flow. The film moves with smoothly between extremes. In fact, the ‘mock everything’ treatment comes with a stronger emotional core. Wade, in fact, is much more humane and needy than he was in the first and that’s what gets you sold on this sequel!