Because we never have enough projects in this Blog, I am creating one of my own, wherein I indulge my desire to rewatch a movie (because sometimes a rewatch is easier than absorbing a new movie) but also fill in a blank left by the Great Hiatus of 2018. It will be more interesting to me to see what I will be willing to rewatch, than see what I missed writing about.
Technically, this was a rewatch of "Deadpool 2: Super Duper Cut".
Not sure if it was a good idea to watch the extended version as a reminder of the movie and to build a post for what was lost. This one is just a smidgen too much of an untethered Ryan Reynolds, and yes, kind of exhausting. Of the fifteen extra minutes of footage, about 4 minutes are worth the maximum effort put in to produce a "director's cut". And the alternate music chosen is... painful.
Anywayz, still loved it as a whole and for some very specific points, but again, not as much as the first movie. I think the first is pretty much a perfect movie for me.
The movie begins with Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds, Bolt Neck) post Deadpool doing his best, fucked up version of being a superhero -- killing all kinds of bad guys from around the world. This opening is where a lot of the extended footage goes, so Mr. Pool can kill and kill and kill and chop and quip his way through tons of Bad Guys. Someone on the team must have really liked that iconic "smashing through the glass" scene in Ghost in the Shell (both anime movie, and IRL movie) as they pretty much recreate it. And a weird twist is that because the scene is extended, they have to replace the Dolly song with a longer one. Doesn't work.
Anywayz, one of the Bad Guys that Deadie misses killing (still not sure why he runs away from them; he shouldn't have any problem with a bunch of thugs) comes back and, well... the cheese spreader misses, the bullet kills Vanessa (Morena Baccarin, Greenland). Cut to James Bond-ian opening credits featuring Celine Dionne doing her song "Ashes" while the credits react to Vanessa being killed in the same snarky manner as the first movie's credits. Its really, truly effective, but I have to say I still prefer the Jordan Smith version of "Ashes" as it carries more pathos and less diva. I believe that appeared in the yet-another different version of this movie, the Once Upon a Deadpool PG version.
Enter Deadpool trying to kill himself montage (some extra stuff), ending with his apartment filled with barrels of something fiery and KABOOM.
Didn't the explosion kill a lot of people in his apartment building or is the disrepaired state we saw the place, in "Deadpool" implying its an abandoned building he is squatting in? That might be me trying to forgive the fact that he really is truly a sociopath who wouldn't care if he killed dozens in collateral damage.
Enter Colossus (Stefan Kapicic, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare) stuffing his body pieces into a bag and dragging him back to the X-Mansion. This is the aspect of the plot I don't really care about, and yet, is essential to the story that Ryan Reynolds is trying to tell, probably something to do with contrast -- Colossus really wants to redeem Deadpool, have him become a proper "hero". Deadpool resists but eventually, seemingly, submits to the will of Colossus and is allowed on a mission as a "X-Man in Training". He gets a training tshirt.
Don't forget your favourite relationship in the whole franchise -- "Hi Wade!! Hi Yukio!"
Said first mission -- The Home for Wayward Mutants *ahem* "Essex House for Mutant Rehabilitation", basically a place for mutant children to be dumped, and abused by a sociopathic headmaster & staff. Deadpool makes some rough attempts at calming Russell (Julian Dennison, Godzilla vs Kong), the angry fireball-using kid, down but eventually he figgers out what is happening to the kid(s) and kills one of the staff. I think he also gathers that the (run) DMC ("Dept of Mutant Corrections") that showed up have mutation-suppressing technology and that could work on him, allowing him to die. So, bang, one dead pedophile, one disappointed Colossus and the two of them are off to the IceBox.
So, Russell is condemned to a maximum security prison for... lighting a few fires? There's no legal activities, no court, no sentencing, just .... clink, you're in jail ? And he's a minor !!
Also, the IceBox is supposed to be in the North West Territories, so would that make the city this movie takes place in actually Vancouver? Nah, as it appears to be in driving distance of said city, likely the IceBox is in the Rockies and the city is some west-coast California fictional city.
Prison. Deadpool with no powers, and many kinds of cancer just reappearing in his body. You would think they would grow back slowly in his healed body, but whatever, plot. We get lots of usual prison antics, and Russell seems to have taken Deadpool seriously in the opening bit, because he thinks they are friends. Deadie makes sure he knows otherwise, so Russell befriends the monster at the end of the hall -- Juggernaut. They don't say Juggernaut but we all know its Juggernaut.
Then Cable (Josh Brolin, Old Boy) appears to blow shit up with his electro-splosive gun that Goes to 11. Shit does blow up and the two of them are knocked outside, where Deadpool... almost dies? Anywayz, one loverly vision of Vanessa telling him its not his time yet, and he has to save Russell.
Why doesn't Cable just dust himself off and climb back into the prison to finish the job of killing Russell? Cuz plot.
So, now we get the fun-tage act of the movie where Deadpool decides the best and only way to save Russell is to build a team. Over an undetermined amount of time, but it must have been long, he recruits, interviews and assembles his new team X-Force. He also hires/buys a helicopter and crew? This whole act, including the giant action set-piece that follows, is the most fun the movie has. There are injokes, Marvel references, horrible deaths, micro-cameos and the best character in the entire movie -- Domino (Zazie Beetz, Joker), who's power is luck -- and apparently a substantial lack of empathy cuz the collateral damage she "causes" is scary. But she is the perfect antidote for Deadpool's quippiness with her own droll brand. The action set-piece involving a fight between Cable, Deadpool, with some of Domino's help is this movie's (s)equal to the opening sequence from the first movie, i.e. lots of slowmo and weird/fun angles. It ends with Deadpool literally torn in half by The Juggernaut (Ryan Reynolds, 6 Underground), after he fanboys / breaks 4th wall, out. Domino collects up the pieces.
Or at least one half. What does happen to the "pieces" of Deadpool after he begins healing? Do they quickly decay and melt away or are there parts of him rotting all over the city. Also, and its referenced briefly in-movie, does his head grow a new body or do they just jam the pieces together and watch them reattach? Probably not or we wouldn't get our whole shirt-cocking baby-legs joke segment, but that makes me (him) wonder why everyone still collects up pieces when all they need is a head and whatever is attached.
So, in the last act, Russell has escaped with the help of The Juggernaut. Everyone knows he will go kill the headmaster who abused him. Cable shows up because he wants help. He also monologues the reasons why, and Deadpool convinces him to at least give Russell a chance -- if he Deadpool stops him from killing the headmaster, he stops him from becoming a kill-addicted psychopath in the future that murders Cable's family. Cable is not fully convinced, but....
Its just an OK act, focused equally on the "CGI fist fest" between Colossus and Juggernaut, and Cable & Deadpool killing a bunch of basically unarmed medical attendants -- sure some have shotguns, and they are all labelled "pedophiles" and are guilty by association, but reminder (!!!) sociopath !! Domino is also in the background realizing her whole reason for being in the movie was to end up here, as she was raised in the orphanage. So, she gets to murder some staff as well, while saving kids.
I am kind of meh about this whole fight, but it is fun to see Colossus just let loose. It all ends with Deadpool finally, truly dying, sacrificing himself for Russell. It does affect him, it DOES stop him from becoming a murder-y fire-fist in the future, and Cable is impressed. So much so that he uses his last bit of time-juice to go back and slightly alter the scene -- Russell is still saved, still doesn't become murder-y, but Deadpool lives.
Happy ever after.
Closing montage of more referential material of Deadpool with a now-fixed timey-wimey device "setting things right" including killing his alternate version from that Wolverine movie, and killing Ryan Reynolds before he plays Green Lantern. Light chuckles. Again, like Kent, by now I am just exhausted. Also, the whole "kill Hitler" scene doesn't make sense especially since the whole point of the movie is that you shouldn't kill people as kids just because they are evil as adults.
Its a fun movie, a LOT of fun. I really do prefer the edited-down version, despite having a historical fondness for "director's cuts".
Oh, we can't wait for your post about the uber-mega-super-long "Rebel Moon" movies !!! Squeee....
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