Deadpool 2 – Better than the first?

Recently I’ve been watching this guy’s Youtube channel where he hoards up on blurays and DVDs. And it got me thinking about my own collection. I used to have a pretty extensive VHS and DVD collection myself but as bluray started to get more popular and VHS became a dead format, I started to purge myself of my unneeded collection items. The VHS tapes in particular became a bit of a hassle, especially when it came time to move. Lugging around a massive box filled with VHS tapes that I couldn’t even play anymore because I no longer had a VCR to play them on became such a problem that the last time I moved I just left them all by the road.

And as bluray became the winner in the HD field, winning their battle against HD DVD, I started selling off most of my DVDs and upgrading to bluray. Even though I’m pretty sure the next format war will be for physical media itself. There’s 4K now, but after that, maybe that is it. Physical media might be over after that, much like CDs. Can you remember the last time you bought a physical CD? I can’t. Hell, I can’t even remember the last time I actually paid for music.

Now the only thing I really buy when it comes to movies are blurays and usually only if I really loved the film or if it is in a boxset collection or a steelbook. Or both, like the new steelbook Die Hard collection which I’m itching to get.

Currently I’m debating if I should pull the trigger on two items, the Shout Factory collector’s editions of Drag Me to Hell and Darkman. After buying all the Evil Dead films on bluray, even the remake, I find myself still on this Sam Raimi kick. All thanks to Ash vs. Evil Dead getting cancelled. It’s cancellation kickstarted something. It’s kind of my thing, if like say Baby Driver is coming to bluray and I want to add it to my collection, I’m going to also have to buy Edgar Wright’s other films on bluray as well, right? Thankfully you can still buy his Cornetto trilogy in one fancy three disk set.

But since now that Ash vs Evil Dead is finished, that means I can now get the inevitable boxset of the complete series. It’s the same reason why I don’t buy the new awesome John Wick 2 film steelbook collection that just came out. The artwork is amazing, the films are incredible, but the third and final film is being filmed as I’m typing this and will be out probably next year sometime. So as much as it pains me, I’m going to have to wait until the three film boxset comes out.

Inspired by the guy’s Youtube channel Wetmovie1, I figured I might as well head over to Walmart and see what they had in their bargain bin. The only bluray I could find was for Ted. As much as I like that movie, I don’t know if spending $5 was really worth it. Plus, this is me we are talking about, so that means I’d also have to eventually get Ted 2 and A Million Ways to Die in the West. The last being my favorite of the bunch. I know that film gets shit on a lot, but I found it hilarious, not to mention I think Seth MacFarlane and Charlize Theron have an insane amount of chemistry together in that film.

In the end, all I walked away with was a three film set of Prom Night for $3. For some reason I decided against getting the $5 Death Wish set. But as I was at Walmart, I ran across Deadpool’s promotional gimmick of replacing a bunch of film covers with Deadpool. Not only are they awesome slipcovers but they’re hysterical if you’ve never heard of this promotion and like me you just stumbled on to them.

You have no idea how tempted I was in buying the one featuring Deadpool riding a unicorn.

The plan was to go super early on Friday to the theater to see Deadpool 2, hoping it wouldn’t be as crowded as it was when seeing Infinity War. But before that I had to spend my morning at the DMV getting a new photo ID since mine expired. Actually, mine expired a long time ago, but I’ve been putting it off. The stereotype about everyone working at the DMV being assholes is not a stereotype, as the guy taking my info was the biggest douchebag I’ve ever met. Before he got to me, he was busy berating an elderly woman for not hearing her number getting called.

Then I had the pleasure of sitting in a hot room filled with sad frustrated people who some have been waiting up to two hours to be called on. But at least it gave me the chance to hear the woman across from me talk about her dead kid, so that was super fun.

By the time I was called I just rushed through it, taking the worst photo imaginable and I believe writing 20018 as the year date. It was raining out so I wore my leather jacket, big mistake as they didn’t have any air conditioning in the place, so I might have been a bit dehydrated and slightly out of it.

Thankfully, seeing Deadpool 2 at the theater went way more smoothly. It was only me and maybe three other people at the theater.

I guess I should start talking about the film now. Unless you’d all wish to hear more about my trip to the DMV? No takers? I’m sure Roger Ebert used to ramble on for three pages in his film reviews about going to Walmart as well. Okay then, I guess I’ll talk about Deadpool 2 now.

Do I want to get into spoilers? Even I tried staying away from the trailers because I feared it might ruin some of the funnier jokes in the film.

The biggest laugh I got in the trailers was when Deadpool tries reflecting Cable’s bullets with his swords, but when he stops shooting you realize Deadpool didn’t reflect any of the bullets, because he’s riddled with bullet holes. Seeing that in the trailer was knee slapping hilarious but didn’t hit as well when seeing it in the film.

Thankfully this film has many more hilarious scenes to make up for it. The biggest laugh out of me was when we got to see Deadpool’s baby legs after he is ripped in two by Juggernaut.

Deadpool 2 starts off with a bang. Literally with him blowing himself up in his apartment. You think he’s sad because of Wolverine dying in Logan. But as we get a flashback, we learn he is sad because someone killed his girlfriend.

I pretty much figured she had to die this time around. You can’t exactly have your character in a good place for a sequel or that sequel is going to be boring. You also can’t repeat the same plot as the first film either. Thanks to the trailers I knew this film wasn’t going to be about Deadpool getting revenge again.

I kind of thought they missed a perfect opportunity to introduce Death, seeing as I believe she’s his main love interest in the comics. I don’t really know much about the comics so I’m just basing what I know from second hand talk and what the videogame had in it. I guess in a way though, his girlfriend has become the placeholder for Death, as he can only be with her when he dies, yet he can’t die.

I’m still unsure what his relationship is with Domino. I’m glad they didn’t peruse a romance with her. They did peruse one with him and Colossus however.

While I’m on Domino, all I have to say is she’s great. I can’t really see Colossus or Negasonic Teenage Warhead being good in their own solo films, but for Domino I absolutely can.

Much like how Negasonic Teenage Warhead was kind of a breakout character in the first, Domino is the standout for the second film. I loved how Deadpool kept telling her that luck isn’t a superpower, all the while this amazing shit is happening around her.

The film picks up a bit after the first, Deadpool has been taking on contract killings left and right. He has one more name on his list before he can go home to celebrate him and his girlfriend’s anniversary. Not wanting to be late for the big day, Deadpool saves the bad guy for later.

And yes! Dopinder returns! He’s the taxi driver Deadpool befriended in the first film. He is still driving Deadpool around, most likely for free. This time he has a bigger part, now wanting to be a hitman like Deadpool. He even takes up training at the bar run by Deadpool’s BFF Weasel, played by T.J. Miller. What’s the story with him now? Are we meant to hate him?

The guy who Deadpool let live shows up at his apartment, killing Vanessa, Deadpool’s girlfriend, in the process.

Now in a deep depression about the whole thing, not being able to kill himself, Deadpool joins the X-Men.

Another giant laugh out of me was when Deadpool is complaining about them not being able to get anymore X-Men to show up for the sequel. Then we see the whole X-Men cast hiding in a room from him.

But it was the younger cast, so it kind of didn’t make the most sense, but this is Deadpool, shit doesn’t have to make sense.

Deadpool joins as a trainee X-Men, taking on his first mission, subduing an out of control teen mutant who has named himself Firefist, a name Deadpool finds hilarious. I mean, it’s no Taserface from Guardians of the Galaxy 2 but…

Deadpool finds some camaraderie with the young teen, seeing a bit of himself in him. Russell, our angry teenage mutant, is upset about having to stay at this awful orphanage where the staff abuses him, especially the headmaster who hates mutants.

Seeing the abuse he has suffered at their hands, Deadpool decides to resolve the situation the only way he knows how. By shooting the staff.

Colossus subdues him before he can take out the headmaster, taking them both to a prison for mutants. A prison that reminded me a lot of the one in Face/Off.

While there, they are forced to wear collars that inhibit their mutant abilities, leaving Deadpool dying of cancer again. A scenario he is all but fine with.

Meanwhile in the future, Cable is plotting his revenge on the mutant that killed his wife and kid. Cable jumps back through time to when his family’s killer is still just a kid, before he became blood thirsty like he is in the future.

Cable breaks into the prison and goes after Russell, the kid who will eventually grow up to be a monster. Deadpool stops him, getting them both tossed from the prison, inadvertently escaping.

Knowing Cable will try again, Deadpool puts together a team of superheroes and also Peter.

I could tell from the trailers that maybe the whole X-Force thing was a joke, as the only one we actually saw doing anything was Domino. I’m pretty sure that one scene of Terry Crews punching something in the trailer was filmed just to throw everyone off the scent. You never saw any of the other team members doing anything, so you had to suspect something was up. Like Slipknot in Suicide Squad, yup, he’s the first to die.

And what they gave us was maybe the most hilarious and kind of shocking scene in the film.

They parachute out of a plane, but miss the mark by a mile, Terry Crews slams face first into a bus, Shatterstar falls into some helicopter blades, Vanisher electrocutes himself on some powerlines…

Vanisher, kind of awesome as you were never sure if anyone was really there. You see an empty parachute backpack on the plane but you’re never really sure if anyone is actually in it. It could easily just be an empty backpack Deadpool thought would be funny to lug around.

Then he fries on some powerlines, revealing it to be Brad Pitt.

The worst death had to be poor Peter who rushes over to help save Zeitgeist, whose mutant ability is to vomit acid. He finds himself parachuting into a woodchipper, puking acid on poor Peter, melting half of him.

And that was it for the X-Force.

Basically it’s just Deadpool and Domino now, who has already made it on to the convoy carrying all the prisoners. Russell has taken Deadpool’s advice and made friends with a prisoner. The prisoner being The Juggernaut.

Cable shows up as well, ready to kill Russell, but Domino buys time until Deadpool can show up on his Vespa.

Their fight leads to a crash, freeing Russell and Juggernaut. Now the two are a team, setting off to burn the orphanage down and kill the headmaster.

This is the crucial part in Russell’s life where he goes down the path of villainy, getting a taste for killing. Cable teams up with Deadpool and company, as they don’t have much of a chance with Juggernaut by his side.

Deadpool and team take on Juggernaut and try to keep Russell away from the headmaster. The only thing that can get through to him is seeing Deadpool sacrifice himself for him, ending his rampage.

While wearing the ability inhibitor collar, Deadpool can finally die. But not before taking his sweet time doing so. Using his last charge in his time machine device, Cable goes back in time and stops Deadpool from dying. Now they are besties for life. Cable even stopped his own family from dying.

As the first film was about love, the second one is about family.

The end.

Mostly, as there’s some crazy end credit stuff that basically retcons the whole damn movie. What else do you expect to happen if you give Deadpool a time machine? He goes back, stops his girlfriend from dying, stops Green Lantern from happening and kills the Wolverine Origins Deadpool.

I give this film a giant SEE IT. I think I enjoyed this better than the first, and I absolutely loved the first. Maybe it’s because I’ve seen the first one so many times and the jokes have gotten somewhat stale by now, but I think I can say this is a better film.

It has better jokes, better setup and payoff, better action, a better villain, better characters… everything is just slightly better this time around. It has a much more cohesive story, one I found much more interesting, even more invested in. It also worked well as a sequel, as it was cleaver enough to have a few callbacks to the first film, but not enough that it seemed to be repeating itself. It wasn’t just the same film but with a bigger budget like most sequels.

It gave you exactly what you expected from it and slightly a bit more. All I know is this means I now have yet another bluray I have to buy. Now here is three more pages of me telling the story of how I missed out on getting the steelbook for Deadpool when it first came out-

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