Film Review by Victoria Alexander: DEADPOOL 2

Fantastic! It may be R-rated, but you will see it twice or three times.

DEADPOOL shocked Hollywood with its $783million worldwide box office. It had a tiny $58million budget, an R-restricted rating and a first-time director, Tim Miller. Star Ryan Reynolds, after an inauspicious but constant career (and a few outright bombs), took all the credit.

For most of us, lousy acting and a lack of cinematic charisma would quickly kill our budding career, and then there are some – like Reynolds – who keep making movies and being cast regardless of audience appeal – until they strike gold. Imagine having a team of people whose sole purpose is to make you a star!

DEADPOOL’s director, Tim Miller, the new boy in town, also wanted a hefty slice of the glowing credit, especially since it was reported that he did a lot of the outstanding visuals in post-production for free. Miller made DEADPOOL look like a bigger-budgeted, tentpole movie.

Or, was Miller’s PR Team responsible for this leak?

The media pundits questioned Reynolds’ ability to make DEADPOOL 2 without Miller at the helm. Their separation was called “creative differences.” Or, “the clash of the egos.” Miller and Reynolds were not on speaking terms by the time DEADPOOL opened.

In my opinion, Miller, new to Hollywood’s caste system, didn’t give Reynolds appropriate Ojigi – the 30 degrees Keirei bow.

Reynolds has not only succeeded, he (along with a big-budgeted production, a great director and the returning screenwriters (Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick, and himself) have made a terrific, exhilarating movie.

I will say in confidence that Han Solo will not be an adequate challenger blunting DEADPOOL 2’s success. After the first 5 minutes, I knew I would see DEADPOOL 2 two more times. For the 3rd viewing, I’ll use that closed-caption device. I missed 75% of everything Reynolds said. I think he made up some new words only fanatics understood. What I did hear was brilliant sarcasm and a peerless take on everything including the Sunni-Shiite conflict and the plight of the remaining 10,000 blue whales. Deadpool also lamented for loss of teaching cursive in the American educational system.

From the opening minutes, Wade Wilson/Deadpool (Reynolds) lets you know exactly how the rest of the movie is going to go. Deadpool narrates everything. It’s you and him in on the joke – it’s a silly movie with a silly premise!

DEADPOOL 2 director Davis Leitch raised the bar of female killers with ATOMIC BLONDE. This film is sensational. Unlike other female brute-fighters of cinema, Leitch made sure Charlize Theron didn’t walk away from a vicious fight without serious body bruises. My favorite scene is when Theron is fighting a big guy in an abandoned apartment. Their fight is so realistic that when they stumble and lose their footing – it was definitely not a choregraphed stunt. One-hundred-pound female stars – Kate Beckinsale, Milla Jovovich and Alicia Vikander – look great in leather but cannot pound men to the ground with their bare hands. Men have a genetic – its testosterone – advantage.

Wade Wilson has made peace with his face and he and girlfriend Vanessa (Morena Baccarin) are talking about having a kid. How rad of Wade! Vanessa must be still escorting – their place is really homey.

When tragedy strikes Wade is carted off to X-Men headquarters. His unruly ways don’t fly straight with the X-Men ethos, so Colossus (voiced by Stefan Kapicic) is put in charge of taking Deadpool and turning him into a proper X-Man. Wearing an X-Men “trainee” vest, Deadpool is like the black sheep son no one talks about. Deadpool runs into Professor Xavier’s collection of fresh mutant candidates and takes a special interest in weird Russell, aka aptly named, Firefist (Julian Dennison).

When Russell is captured by Cable (Josh Brolin), a time-traveling cyborg soldier, Deadpool needs backup so he puts an ad in Craigslist for superheroes. This is one of the most engaging parts of the movie. And the crafty writers have summoned up mutant Domino (Zazie Beetz), whose mutant power is that she’s lucky. How brilliant is that power!

But the real power is Reynolds delivery and the absurd situations he puts himself in. It would be a shame to reveal any of the great visual nonsense of DEADPOOL 2. The scenes in the X-Men world – and Deadpool’s total disregard for the snotty young mutants – is flawless. And there is so much insider stuff that Deadpool hurls at the viewer, I will keep googling for a fan to transcribe the hyper-bullet-train mouth of Deadpool.

Deadpool versus Logan? Deadpool’s mocking of the DC Universe? How will the DC Universe fight back?

If Reynolds has been a “lucky” star with exaggerated narcissism and an overpowering belief in his own grandness, DEADPOOL 2 confirms, we will all put up with him being a prick.

Victoria Alexander

Member of Las Vegas Film Critics Society: www.lvfcs.org/. Victoria Alexander lives in Las Vegas, Nevada, and answers every email at victoria.alexander.lv@gmail.com. For a complete list of Victoria Alexander's movie reviews on Rotten Tomatoes go to: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/critic/victoria-alexander/movies. Victoria Alexander contributes to Films in Review (http://www.filmsinreview.com), Film Festival Today (http://filmfestivaltoday.com) and Las Vegas Informer (LVInformer.com).