Maximum Effort: A Deadpool 2 Review

Deadpool has been one of my favorite Marvel characters since X-Men Origins: Wolverine. What they did with the character in that movie was so profound and amazing…

Well, it was profoundly stupid and amazingly bad. I mean, katanas in his arms? WTF…

When I saw Origins- in my opinion, the best Wolverine solo movie ever made prior to 2013- I admit I wasn’t too familiar with the Merc with the Mouth. I didn’t even know what his costume was supposed to look like, and I didn’t know that sewing his mouth shut was one of the worst things you could do to his character (aside from putting katanas in his arms… I mean, seriously, I get that maybe it looks cool on paper, but think of the practicality of it- when they are retracted, he can’t bend his f-ing arms!).

And admittedly, I left that movie having thoroughly enjoyed it (I was still in high school, and I also thought Spider-Man 3 was a good flick back then). But time and rational thinking has since worsened my opinion of that movie, and the treatment of Deadpool within it. But even after realizing what a clustercluck that movie was, I still didn’t know a whole lot about Mr. Pool himself. And I certainly didn’t expect to get a better version of him on screen (I mean, we still haven’t done better with Gambit…).

But two years ago, the impossible happened. Deadpool came out in it’s R-Rated glory. And it was everything any true Pool fan would have hoped it would be. It was proving ground that a character like Deadpool could be brought to the screen, and done accurately, and that there was room for R-Rated superhero movies in the world (looking at you, Logan).

But lightning doesn’t strike the same place twice. Deadpool was fantastic, but could they really do it again?

The short answer: Yes.

The longer, spoiler-filled answer to follow:

If Deadpool was proving ground that a movie like this could work, Deadpool 2 is the…