When you’ve served the most delectable tortilla from a Michelin-starred Mexican tapas restro, you ought to retain the basic ingredients when trying your hand at a new recipe to avoid compromising with the quality. Deadpool 2 tried to build on the cult success of its prequel by trying to cook up a spicier version of the tortilla, but ends up frying an overstuffed chimichanga that’s nowhere near as appetising.
Mind you, the motormouth mercenary does deliver more of the quirky, rib-tickling one-liners and jibes he belted out in his 2016 outing, but it all gets monotonous and mundane even with just 20 minutes into the movie. Blame that on an overwrought writing, and if you find the proceedings very excruciating and long, inculpate the wafer-thin plot. But no one can blame yourself for being disappointed eventually.
Deadpool 2 starts off with the mangle-faced Wade Wilson cocking a snook at the makers of Logan for dusting off the most popular character of the X-Men franchise, before indulging in another bone-crushing, blood-splattering, brawl in a basement. Things soon go from bad to worse for the regenerating mutant, and due to some regretful circumstances, ends up in a dreaded cell, far away in the snow-clad terrains.
The story thereafter, spirals into a bottomless abyss of mediocrity. Save for a few wisecracking quips from the man himself, rest everything’s just passable. Including the much-maligned Cable, who’s criminally underwritten and Josh Brolin’s intimidating frame isn’t capitalised on enough. Barring Domino (Zazie Beetz) and a hilarious Dopinder (Karan Soni), the rest of the bunch are mere afterburners in this jalopy.
Even the CGI fights and VFX-generated paroxysm of the superpowers do not help the cause one bit. It’s far overdone and painful to the eyes after one point. What’s more damning is the fact that the movie had roped in some acclaimed studios such as Double Negative, Method Studios and Framestore for this. But the end-product, from the visual standpoint, is not as hair-raising as you’d expect.
For everything refreshing that Deadpool was, Deadpool 2 is far contrived. Forget Cable, the movie is its own biggest enemy – tediously repeating the tricks of old to the point of exhaustion. An overdramatised and protracted climax is the final nail in the coffin.
A massive letdown, this.
Based on Marvel Comics, Deadpool 2 opens in cinemas on Friday, 18 May 2018.