Movie Review- Deadpool 2

It’s been a while since I have posted a review of a film but I have been meaning to share my review of Fox’s latest Marvel anti-hero film, Deadpool 2. The first film caused quite a shock to the film industry when it broke a record as the largest opening in the month of February (Before Black Panther) and the biggest opening for a rated R film.  Deadpool is a passion project for the lead, Ryan Reynolds who had to sway Fox into making this film.

I have to admit. I was not a huge fan of the first film. I thought the effects were cheesy and story line lacking. It seemed more or less seemed like an excuse to just introduce a new character and pick up on the excitement of the MCU.  It was different because they choose to go the irreverent Rated R route but for me, it wasn’t enough for me.  My friends loved it but maybe I just couldn’t get over the “breaking the 4th wall” thingy.  And truth be told, I usually don’t like origin films.  In most cases directors focus so much on the origin and not an actual story.

Now having said all that, I truly enjoyed Deadpool 2.  The cheesy special effects, gone.  The lacking story line, gone.  The “breaking the 4th wall” well not gone but reduced.  The pop culture references, on point.  Deadpool follows the anti-hero Wade Wilson/Deadpool as he is a paid assassin but only takes on bad people.  His lady love is caught in the cross fire of one of his recent mark.  After her death, Deadpool spends his time getting over it at the Xmen mansion.  At the mansion, Deadpool tries to become something more, become one of the Xmen.  Through a series of events, Deadpool becomes a prisoner at a prison made for mutants and roommate to a mutant who is set on a path of death and destruction.

One of the pleasant surprises of Deadpool 2 is the addition of long time Marvel favorite Cable.  Played by Josh Brolin (Also plays Thanos), Cable is a time traveling soldier who travels through time to kill the mutant who kills his family.  Unfortunately, that mutant is Deadpool’s new found “friend”.  This movies shows the evolution Deadpool must go through in order to arise to the ranks of a true hero.  He assembles a version of the X-Force and realizes the point of self sacrifice.  One of the cast members who steals the show is Atlanta’s own Zazie Beetz.  She plays a member of X-Force known as Domino.  Her mutant power is luck and provides some of the special effects lead comedic shots in the film.

Like its predecessor, Deadpool 2 is not for the little ones.  It is wall to wall with action, character development of Deadpool and Cable, and laughter.  This make watching the first movie with it.  Unfortunately, this film’s box office results are impacted by this summers real block buster, Marvel’s Avengers:  Infinity War.  If your old enough to handle the violence and vulgar language, go see this film.

 

 

Solo: A Star Wars Movie

Since Disney acquired the rights to George Lucas’s space opera Star Wars, they started an aggressive project to build a Star Wars Expanded Universe (SWEU) similar to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This started with the release of the 2015 box office smash The Force Awakens. Since then Disney has released two more films in the SWEU.  Solo is the latest release in the SWEU.

Solo is an origin story of the 1977 Star Wars hero Han Solo. The films has a wide array of notable cast members from Alden Ehrenreich as Solo.  Woody Harrelson as Beckett a friend to Solo  .  Game of Thrones Emilia Clark plays the love interest of Solo.  Rounding out the cast Paul Bettany of recent Marvel fame and Thandie Newton of HBO’s Westworld and Donald Glover. Glover provides the most memorable performance as Lando Calrissian.  Originally played by 70’s Icon Billy D. Williams. Glover, an eccentric rapper/comedian/actor and performance artist, portrayed Lando as smooth as a Colt 45 Malt Liquor (See what I did there).

The story spans 3 years in the fie of Solo as he searches for his long lost love and is set on his path to eventually provide passage of Obi Wan Kenobi and Luke Skywalker. Solo has to quickly come to grips with the themes of trust, loyalty, and betrayal.  We also see where he learned an all too important lesson of being first. The movie ends with Solo getting a best friend and his lady love The Millennium Falcon.  I really enjoyed Solo. It was a great story and a great origin story (usually hate origin stories). The cast selection was great and Ron Howard delivers a movie fans and non fans can appreciate. Great action sequences and special effects and the design of the newer The Millennium Falcon is amazing.  It exceeded my expectations and is one of my favorite Star Wars films.

Critical Commentary on the film is about the controversy surrounding the film. 1) the film did not meet expectations at the box office. Solo opened with a dismal performance of 149 million world wide. The previous three films all have totals over 1 billion world wide. 2) we may be seeing Star Wars fatigue. With the negative fan reaction of Last Jedi being only five months ago, it appears fans decided to stay home. There was even talk of a boycott of this film. 3) Disney is not giving the consumer what they want. Again going back to Last Jedi. Director Rian Johnson changed the idea of what a Star Wars movie feels like. He created a film that ignored the expectations and desires of the fan base, tossed a side decades of story telling clues that George Lucas provided. My immediate reaction to Last Jedi was confusion as opposed to ultimate joy. With Last Jedi, Disney has decided to remove the Lucas model and establish their own. Fans are not happy with this new direction. As Disney tries to fit their round peg of Marvel in the square hole of Star Wars.  Disney has re-recruited J.J. Abrams to direct the next installment Star Wars Episode 9 to try and right the ship.  4)  Last but not least, the series is having trouble reaching a global audience.  Last Jedi was removed from theaters in China after one week.  Unlike the MCU where Black Panther had a good showing in China.

A Memorial Day release was a bad idea.  While it proved very successful in 1977, today’s audience has evolved. Not to mention behind two highly anticipated films:  Marvel’s Avengers Infinity War and Deadpool 2. Infinty War is closing in on 2 billion and Deadpool 2 is at a solid 500+ million.  I believe Solo just got lost in the shuffle. On top of that, Disney did not begin advertising the film until late January as ticket sales for last Jedi started to drop.  A film like this needed a longer time frame to reach saturation.  We should see the buzz on Solo pick up and a normal response when home video kicks in.