We saw Deadpool 2, which is a bit of a mess

[drwex]

There's a lot to like about Deadpool 2. There's also a lot to DISlike. I suspect we won't see any more "Deadpool" movies though I'd like to see him pop up in other films and I'd be down for an X Force movie to see how they handle that. 3/5 stars unless you're a "must see all the Deadpool!" fan in which case you don't care about my opinions anyway.

As mentioned, I find myself saying "Yay!" and "Boo!" almost right next to each other at many bits of this movie. For example: Yay! a movie that straight-up talks about body size and superhero bodies and has a plus-sized kid talking about his experiences. Boo! we still make lots of fat jokes.

Yay! a movie with an on-screen, no-nonsense same-sex relationship. Boo! we flat-out killed the canonically gay male character because cute teen lesbians aren't threatening to anyone.

Yay! they did actually acknowledge Deadpool's bisexuality. Boo! he demonstrates it by nonconsensually groping another guy's ass, multiple times.

Yay! Morena Baccarin turns in another good performance as Vanessa and manages to be the moral center of a movie about people with no or flexible morals. She accomplishes this without compromising the person she's been established to be. Boo! they 'fridged' her because only dead women are real motivations for male heroes. UGH can we please get past this, like now and forever more?

Yay! Zazie Beetz for creating a memorable black character out of Domino (who is white in the comics, iirc). Boo... well, OK, I really have nothing bad to say about her or her character. Both are stand-out and she sells it well the whole way.

The plot, such as it is, plays with the idea of moral ambiguity and commitment. Not just a question of what do you believe, but what are you willing to commit to, and commit how much? It's still the 4th-wall-breaking raunchy R-rated style we got in the first Deadpool movie but it's more complex than the first movie. There's a definite bad guy (group) but most of the conflict in the movie isn't with them. It's among the movie's main characters as they try to figure out which side they're on and what the right thing to do is in their situation.

It's also worth mentioning that Josh Brolin turns in a good performance in what ought to be a throwaway role. Cable is a deliberate send-up of the over-macho dark and tough guy archetype. He's a walking parody and Brolin plays him straight so that when he subverts the archetype it's very effective.

The movie has the problem of having a weak villain - more or less in order not to distract from the inter-character conflict - and from not being Deadpool 1. The first movie got a lot of points for being unique in the lengths it went to and the way it went about things. Basically, we'd never seen anything like it. Now we have and this movie does more of the same but doesn't really break new ground.

All that said, still a great date movie... err, if you're us. Your date movies may vary.

Comments

[reedrover]

I've heard from a few people that the attitude that non-con groping is "ok 'cause it's a guy" was really grating. Sorry it hit you too.

[flexagon]

I didn't find it grating, but I think that's because I have always found butt-touching to be more of a broaching of a topic (which is to say, a proposition) than a sex act in itself. I understand that a lot of people put it on the other side of that line, though, and I don't go around butt-grabbing myself.

[gingicat]

That is the exact vibe my bi roommate and her bi boyfriend described. In slightly different words, of course.

[corylea]

Emily Asher-Perrin, who I find to be the most thoughtful of the people who write articles for Tor.com -- has an article about the "fridging" in Deadpool 2 here.

[drwex]

Read the article. She's entirely correct. And it's appalling that the writers of any film would not know about fridging, or at least claim not to.

[flexagon]

Thanks, I found that a really interesting read (and hadn't heard of the fridging trope before).

[corylea]

You're welcome; I'm glad you enjoyed the article. I find Emily Asher-Perrin usually has something interesting to say, which isn't true of all the people who write on Tor.com.

I've heard of fridging only because I'm a Star Trek fan, and people complained that Spock's mother was "fridged" in the first reboot movie. I had to go look that up. :-)

[tshuma]

I was....entertained by the film in general and annoyed by the non-consensual groping and the fridging of a truly wonderful love interest. She could have served as his moral compass without having to be dead. And we had not one but three weak bad guys, to sort of spread out the problems and keep the other characters in the foreground.

[jducoeur]

Yay! Zazie Beetz for creating a memorable black character out of Domino (who is white in the comics, iirc).

Kind of? In terms of color, she is way beyond white -- like sheet-of-paper white -- with a pure-black ring around one eye. Image here. I don't recall whether they ever discussed her racial background, besides "mutant".

So choosing to make her black isn't necessarily a *change* per se, but was a smart decision. (Really, she's the primary reason I'm interested in seeing the movie, but I'll probably wait for it to hit video.)

I'd be down for an X Force movie

My understanding is that this is in active development, but they don't have a date yet.