Deadpool is not a comic character I generally enjoy. There’s some iterations where he’s more the loose cannon with some slight humor I enjoy, for example as a member of Wolverine’s X-Force. But, the pure comedic/slapstick take in comics I just don’t find funny. What’s weird is, the humor I don’t enjoy on the page, I do enjoy on the screen. While it’s a bit less Looney Tunes when it comes to live action, the jokes work due to the excellent comedic timing of the various actors.

Deadpool 2 ups that humor to 11 but it’s at the expense of a plot. So, this sequel both succeeds and fails spectacularly at the same time.

The general plot involves time travel and a new character Cable traveling back to stop a mutant from going bad and killing a lot of folks. Deadpool thinks that kid has a chance at redemption and to stop Cable he needs to form a group. There’s really no reason he needs a group, it’s just an excuse to go bigger in the end and sets up one of the best jokes of the film.

And the setting up of jokes is what the film is about. It’s a comedic porno in that it’s goal is to set up the next scene and the money shot. That’s it really. The action is over the top. The acting is ho-hum. It’s all fan-service by introducing characters and namedropping locations and other comic Easter eggs to make the fans excited. There’s no real reason for any of these things other than fan service.

With more fourth wall breaking and meta jokes, the film feels like the jokes came first and the sequences and plot came second. As I said above, the plot is pretty thin. It’s basically a reverse Terminator (pretty sure that joke is mentioned). But, like the Looney Tunes Deadpool emulates, the film is all about the gags and for the most part, they land. There’s a lot of jokes and I found myself laughing a lot. Like cry/piss your pants level of laughing. The film is a success in that way.

And those jokes are interesting. There’s the macho/borderline homophobic jokes from the first film like a “dick in the mouth” but the film also is shockingly progressive. It’s almost self-aware about it all.

The first LGBTQ character in a live action comic adaptation (I think) is introduced with Negasonic and her girlfriend Yukio and Deadpool doesn’t care. He congratulates her. There’s an entire speech about the lack of plus-sized superheroes. There’s ongoing jokes about Cable being racist. Deadpool multiple times comments about the “Men” in X-Men and how it’s sexist. But, there’s also pedophile jokes and some other borderline ones. The film seems to cover it all in a weird way.

Generally though characters are presented as parts of jokes or to play off of. Cable is too much of a straight man and too serious. Domino is underused. The rest of X-Force… well, just see the film. Negasonic and Colossus are good foils and play off of Deadpool well in similar chemistry as the first film but again, not really needed. It’s all there to get that key shot and up the cool factor.

The best part of the film is the end credit scenes which really sum up the humor of it all. The admission is worth it for them alone and had me leave the movie with a smile.

The film isn’t bad. It’s quite funny. There’s just little plot, something that’s a big step backwards from the original. The movie delivers the humor and a surprising amount of heart and while is a distant third of Marvel film properties to see this year (so far), it’s still worth checking out. It’s just a lesson that turning things to eleven is not always the best course.

Overall Rating: 6.0