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'Deadpool 2' is a wisecracking, chaotically staged action romp

( R ) ( Monitor Movie Guide )

Some of the movie's jokes hit the target, but many miss the mark.

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Photo by Brent N. Clarke/Invision/AP/File
Actor-producer Ryan Reynolds attends a special screening of his film, "Deadpool 2," at AMC Loews Lincoln Square in New York.
  • By Peter Rainer

When it came out in 2016, the extreme jokiness of “Deadpool” was something relatively new to the Marvel franchise, but, in the interim, many of the non-“Deadpool” Marvel movies have followed its lead. This means that “Deadpool 2,” directed by David Leitch, isn’t a novelty anymore. Ryan Reynold’s Wade Wilson aka Deadpool is as wisecracky as ever, and some of the franchise’s meta jokes, like its swipes at the DC Comics movies, or Wolverine, hit the target. Just as many of the jokes don’t, and when the movie isn’t being goofy, it’s a pretty standard, chaotically staged action romp. The plotline, such as it is, involves Wade and his X-Force crew attempting to protect the teen mutant Russell aka Firefist (Julian Dennison) from sundry interlopers. Josh Brolin, as the time-traveling Cable, is one of them (sort of). Zazie Beetz as Domino is the freshest new face. A mock credit sequence riffing on the snazzy openers to the James Bond movies is fun. All in all, I prefer a Marvel movie that doesn’t take itself seriously, but the nonstop unseriousness of “Deadpool 2” can wear you down, too. Grade: B- (Rated R for strong violence and language throughout, sexual references, and brief drug material.)

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