Deadpool is back in theaters with an amazing new adventure. We all know it and the large clique of Italian intellectuals knows it too who, thanks to the chatty mercenary, has discovered a whole world of cinematographic wonders, as can be seen from… and I read: “once upon a time it was just muscles and patriotism. Now there are blacks, feminists, self-deprecating types and even a sickly one ”. And while we are amazed with La Repubblica's Friday that there can be a black superhero and a female superhero, let's start a fantastic review of Deadpool 2.
ATTENTION: from here on you will find a series of spoilers about the film. Proceed at your own risk.
True revenge
I want to start immediately with a harsh intercontinental criticism: will Americans ever stop copying the true talent of our compatriots? After Michael Jackson who stole a song from Al Bano and Beyonce who copied a performance from Lorella Cuccarini, this people without ideas have surpassed themselves! You know the character of Russell in Deadpool 2? The slightly chubby kid who hates everyone and would like to set his parents on fire, let's call them teachers by blowing up the school / orphanage where he has been heavily mistreated? So to get real revenge on him?
I don't think I need to add anything else.
The drama of the trailers
So what's this Deadpool 2 like? Well, the trailers are cool: there's the DC universe joke, the Thanos joke, the bullet gag, there's X-Force, Cable, Domino in a thousand lucky situations, and lots of other stuff. And the movie is cool too: there's the DC universe joke, the Thanos joke, the bullet gag, there's X-Force, Cable, Domino in a thousand lucky situations, and a lot of other things. No, excuse a moment: Deadpool 2 has a promotional campaign that breaks the cu ** to the hedgehogs, with scenes and gags shot specifically for the promotion, and then 80% of the jokes and moments of laughter are burned right in the trailers? How is it possible?
But do you want to know what it is that really pissed me off? Peter, the most sensationally disregarded hype in the history of mankind. I mean, from the trailers he looked like the baddest character in the movie and then they get him out of me pretty much right away. Because? Think of all the things they could have made him do, like go from funny X-Force mascot to ultimate superhero, the normal person who sacrifices himself to save everyone, to make the world a better place. But no. Peter remains the one of the trailers who, however, dies corroded by the acid vomit of the actor who makes Pennywise in the new IT, ended up nicely in a sort of threshing machine. And this thing just didn't go down.
And the surprise effect?
Sure, gorging the trailers with the juiciest parts only aggravated Deadpool 2's real problem: the absence of surprise. If with Deadpool 1 we were all, wow, how cool, what a laugh I'm super dude who makes fun of all the other perfect super dudes, shoots a lot of bad words and does hyper-politically scorrect things, in Deadpool 2 there is all this and ... a lot other? No, that's all.
Normally the source film introduces you to the character and the sequel raises the bar, but in Deadpool 2 the only thing that stands up is… okay, let's not overdo the vulgarity. To use big words from the person he studied, Deadpool is at his best when he deconstructs superhero mythology, topos by topos. But since we have already introduced the character, what can we add in the sequel? Because, let's face it: besides Deadpool himself in the film there is not much else in the film, apart from the suffering of having to adapt to a minute imposed by the cinecomics market. In these 2 hours Deadpool arrives at the end, but gradually losing its avant-garde streak so much that, despite having started as unconventional cinecomics, it comes out as one of the most do-gooders ever seen. There is no real villain, there is a lot, a lot of love, a good heart, a desire to forgive and more mountains of love. In short, there will also be lots of bad words, splatter scenes and ambiguous situations, but they seem more like a filler and not really useful elements for the plot and characterization of the characters.
Deadpool 2 is a film written with superficiality and the authors know it well, but to justify oneself it is not enough to put jokes like “What a weak script” in the mouth of Deadpool for 2 occasions. If once can be metanarrative, two is really getting our hands on.
And then okay that they call him the chatty Mercenary, but there is a limit between the logorrhea and the outspoken talk just to fill in the gaps in the script. Deadpool is definitely a difficult character to manage, a super dude with ups and downs, and it might be nice that the film also has as many ups and downs, sure, but if you wanted to ...
Do you know what scene I imagined? A super writer arrives at the office, says brilliant stuff like "There's this big fat guy with a mustache but without powers who joins the Deadpool team, epic scene with him jumping with a parachute and ...", then taken by a lightning attack of diarrhea, runs to the bathroom. So in order not to waste precious time, the producers call the first author who passes in the corridor and ask him to complete the idea, and he “The big fat boy… yes… and dunno, he dies”. The smart screenwriter comes back and "So, here comes this half man half cyborg thirsty for revenge from the future who wants to take out the arsonist little boy, mega fight in the prison for mutants, super hot stuff and ... sorry, I forgot something in the bathroom" again the substitute that concludes with an “E boh, it becomes good”. Who knows who will be the author of destroying-ideas-epics ... Aaaahh, Ryan Reynolds are you also among the writers? Well, as an actor who is only successful if he plays with a very thick mask, I feel like betting on him ...
Then yes, the gags work, there are many and we laugh, but a film made up of so many good sketches is rarely a good film, right Ace Ventura? Deadpool is a sprinter, not a marathoner. It's kind of the Usain Bolt of laughter: it's not that he can't run a marathon, but we want to put his results in the 100 and 200 meters? Black humor, sarcasm, self-irony, the tendency to choose, between two paths, the one that ridicules him the most… it's gold that glitters! But even gold can't always shine: what about when it's dark? And when are there clouds? And when it is covered with a thin layer of poor?
In conclusion ...
Before closing, I would say a few words about the CGI, rather beggar but there is in a film that wants to make the verse to all cool cinecomics. Too bad that, flanked by the television directing of the final fight, made all of tight shots (a la Agents of SHIELD), it reminded me of the last episodes of Evangelion, when they ran out of money and made do with what they had.
Okay, if I really have to give grades, Deadpool, the character, deserves a 9 while Deadpool 2 deserves a 7. Even if it has the coolest opening credits and mid credits scenes in history, but not in cinecomics, in the history of cinema! What a pleasure when Deadpool takes out his predecessor from Wolverine's first standalone. And we want to talk about the roar that rose in the room when Reynolds himself died badly with his hand in the Green Lantern script? A little divine justice, finally.
