Kiss him like you miss him

Marvel’s (and quite possibly comicdom’s) most uninhibited, homoerotic and LOAO superhero is back for more mayhem and shenanigans in ‘Deadpool 2,’ the much anticipated follow-up to the unapologetic and NSFW 2016 superhero parody which set a box office record for an R-rated comic book movie (so take that, ‘Watchmen’ and ‘Kick-Ass’!).  Whether that feat was due to parents unwittingly taking their kids to see it while assuming it’s “just another PG-13 Marvel movie” had been put to rest, considering that the $125 million domestic opening weekend take of DP2 (snicker) was only a slight drop-off from the original’s opening weekend gross of $132 million.

The vigilante hero in sexy tight red spandex who can’t be killed proved that — warning, spoilers ahead — even dismemberment twice (once by self-inflicted explosion and the other by the hands of Juggernaut) can’t keep him “down” for long or diminish his ability to deliver well-timed snarky one-liners as he develops a soft spot (hey, watch it) for a chubby kid who will later be known as Firefist and tries to stop Terminator, ahem, time-traveling supersoldier Cable from killing the kid in order to prevent him from murdering Cable’s family in the future.  Returning from the first film are metal-skinned Colossus and spunky Negasonic Teenage Warhead, as well as a slew of new characters such as Foxy Brown aka Domino, lucky sole survivor of Deadpool’s short-lived gender-neutral mutant superteam “X-Force.”  Nuff said.

As a fan of everything X-Men back in the ‘80’s (the John Byrne/Marc Silvestri era) and ‘90’s (the Jim Lee/Rob Liefeld period) who devoured virtually every comic book with an “X” (or “Mutant”) in its title, ‘Deadpool 2’ is like a wet dream come true.  If anything, I enjoyed DP2 even more than its predecessor, as the katana-wielding “Fourth Wall” breaker demonstrates that he’s no longer the selfish anti-hero he used to be and has a heart-of-gold.  The fact that the movie’s also a laugh riot and playful homage to the ‘80’s in its soundtrack and cinematic references (e.g., ‘Flashdance,’ ‘Say Anything’) is only icing on the cake.  Thanks, Canada!

Grade: A+ 

P.S. I probably shouldn’t have to say this, but do stick around through the end credits.  You’ll thank me later, believe me.