Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) and his gutter-mouthed, arse-kicking, not-so alter ego are back for a sequel and it's called, yep, Deadpool 2.
Like the first, the premise here is essentially moot; a flimsy spider-web of a story upon which to collect a veritable feast of expletive-riddled, fourth-wall-smashing ,slice 'em and dice 'em action set-pieces and comic book piss-takes.
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This is Deadpool. He fights dirty, talks dirty and gets dirty to get the job done, regardless of what the job is.
This time around, he's doing some revenging and he's doing some rescuing. Sometimes they're the same thing.
Some pretty big things happen to Wade right off the bat and he ends up sharing a prison cell with Ricky Baker, which if I'm honest, weirded me out just a little bit. But once I got my head round it and once Julian Dennison's Russell really started to fire up, I was well into it.
Russell is just a kid, but he's an angry kid with some serious superpowers, and like Deadpool, he's conflicted about how to use them.
It's not the only character trait/flaw they share; neither play well with others. But play with others they must, because soon it will be time to do what all comic book superhero sequels do - build a "super duper f**king group".
This is where the film serves the hardcore X-Men fanbase and where the funny really kicked in for me.
Deadpool launching his own X-Force was about as meta as Marvel can get and Deadpool 2 plunders those riches in a most rewarding way.
So, yes, there's the same dose of smug which kinda left me cold first time around but again, Deadpool can't help himself, still managing to win me over with the sheer magnitude of profane quips and steady banter.
While it naturally lacked the freshness of his first foray and that fact means we all know what we're in for, the introduction of Thanos as Cable ups the ante considerably - and do not think for a second they don't make the most of that Marvel mash-up.
If the first Deadpool entirely baked your meringue then Deadpool 2 is obviously exactly the same recipe served at perfect room temperature. Sweet as.
Four stars.
Deadpool 2 is released in New Zealand cinemas on May 17.
Newshub.
