text: Superhero sequels are always more of the same, and “Deadpool 2” continues the practice smoothly, transitioning into something more gory, bizarre, offbeat and even obscenely funny than the original, which opened in 2016 to quite justified acclaim and stratospheric profits. While the protagonist, a smart-mouthed, obnoxious, unkillable mutant assassin, is a runt of the Marvel litter, his absurdly violent comedies know how to bark and bite and wag a tail for attention. 
   
   This is a very self-aware bag of tricks. Most films are self-aware, but they work hard to keep that out of sight. “Deadpool 2” revels in its self-referential perspective, relishing jabs at old John Hughes movies, “The Passion of the Christ” and, most of all, its own “lazy writing.” 
   
   It stays true to the mission of lampooning earnest comic-book action movies with enormous creative chutzpah. It embraces everything that should make it lousy, calling out itself for aping the genre’s bad ideas and then shattering the fourth wall with meta precision. We’ve seen superhero satire before in films like “The Mask” and “Guardians of the Galaxy,” but this is different, cross-the-line material by shock jocks and provocateurs. 
   
   It delivers so much over-the-top mayhem that we wonder if the crew was rising to a dare, and the title character’s fast, cheeky, very funny commentary covers every inch of the convoluted plot. A refresher course on old Marvel comics isn’t needed to sharpen your appreciation of what’s happening on-screen. When the fertilizer hits the fan, as it frequently does, it’s pretty clear what’s happening. 
   
   Ryan Reynolds plays Deadpool, whose special power is quickly healing to cartoonish effect when he’s sliced, diced, shot or subdivided by a hand grenade. Reynolds introduces us to his character’s typical day, traveling from Japan, across Europe, to his nameless Hometown to jump down buildings, crash through windows and relentlessly lay carnage on evildoers like a steamroller in overdrive. 
   
   Wearing scar makeup to hide his typical pretty-boy looks, Reynolds radiates a bizarre charisma. Throwing his impish Alfred E. Neuman smile at the camera to make us feel weird, he sails through each nonstop raunchy verbal riff. He is like a swizzle stick continually stirring up a double Mickey Finn. 
   
   Ryan Reynolds in a scene from "Deadpool 2." 
   
   The story at hand is breathtakingly simple, yet complicated to the point of lunacy. Bad guys separate Deadpool from his love, Vanessa (Morena Baccarin), putting him in a suicidal funk. At least very briefly, because of that instant healing, remember? Trying to construct a substitute family, Deadpool becomes a trainee at the X-Men academy, where almost every studio-valuable character hides from him and the gallery of heroic portraits on the wall includes an impressive image of Karl Marx. 
   
   Deadpool tries to mentor another mutant academy’s defiant teen fire starter, Firefist (delightfully played by Julian Dennison, so fine in the charmingly odd “Hunt for the Wilderpeople”). Grappling with orphanhood, 14-year-old angst and a chubby physique, he hasn’t found a mentor to help him control his abilities because, as he says, there’s no demand for plus-size superheroes. 
   
   They wind up side by side in a Supermax prison where a Terminator-like soldier from the future, Cable (Josh Brolin), arrives to eliminate Firefist before he reaches his destiny as a supervillain. And then things begin to get a bit complicated. Joining the mess is Domino (Zazie Beetz), whose superpower is, basically, luck. She adds such a delightful performance that you feel the movie was lucky for getting her. 
   
   On the surface, “Deadpool 2” follows the antihero’s crime-fighting antics. One layer down, there’s a lot more going on. It launches an indictment of pop culture and its addicted fans. The film mocks sincere good taste, showing us terrifying things we should not feel comfortable about while sophomorically asking, “Are you enjoying this?” and scoffing, “Of course you are!” The movie addresses topics as diverse as rampant gun violence and how gloomy DC superhero movies have become. 
   
   There are perhaps two believable human moments in the script. Otherwise, most of it is focused on samurai sword slicing, putting dirty lyrics in a Carmina Burana-style doomsday choral piece and “how did they afford him?” celebrity cameos. If you love films that keep you guessing, laughing and surprised on the edge of your seat, this is a must-see. ||||| But while the sequel benefits from Reynolds’ superhuman charisma as the charmingly annoying, katana-wielding protagonist, the film nevertheless feels too much like more of the same: more of the same gross-out gags, more of the same irreverent jokes, more bits where Deadpool has to regrow severed limbs to the disgust of everyone around him, more running commentary on the movie he’s in…. ||||| After surviving a near fatal bovine attack, a disfigured cafeteria chef (Wade Wilson) struggles to fulfill his dream of becoming Miami's hottest bartender, while also learning to cope with his lost sense of taste. Searching to regain his spice for life, as well as a flux capacitor, Wade must battle ninjas, the yakuza, and a pack of sexually aggressive canines, as he journeys around the world to discover the importance of family, friendship, and flavor - finding a new taste for adventure and earning the coveted coffee mug title of World's Best Lover.
target: – Now pondering fatherhood, Deadpool is back to kick butt and crack jokes in Marvel's Deadpool 2, featuring Ryan Reynolds and more than a few F-bombs. Its predecessor ruled the box office in 2016, but does this sequel from David Leitch—which cost a stuntwoman her life—have the power to do the same? It seems so, with the movie getting a solid 85% positive rating from critics and audiences alike at Rotten Tomatoes. Here's what critics are saying: "If you love films that keep you guessing, laughing and surprised on the edge of your seat, this is a must-see," writes Colin Covert at the Minneapolis Star Tribune. "More gory, bizarre, offbeat and even obscenely funny than the original," the film "revels in its self-referential perspective" while Reynolds "radiates a bizarre charisma," Covert writes. Not to be outdone is a "delightful" Zazie Beetz as lucky superhero Domino. "There's no way it could equal the freshness and irreverence of the 2016 original. Fortunately, the sequel comes off as much more than a cash grab," writes Calvin Wilson at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. He mostly credits Reynolds. In "the role of his dreams," the actor "totally sells the character's blend of reckless self-absorption and reluctant heroics." Even so, "another sequel really isn't necessary, but it's in the works anyway." Jen Yamato wasn't as impressed. "While the sequel benefits from Reynolds' superhuman charisma," it "merely rehashes and recycles the same wink-wink barbs that worked the first time around" and offers "uninspired plotting," she writes at the Los Angeles Times. Thank goodness for Celine Dion. Her music brings "new life, emotion and a winking, self-aware wit into the action," Yamato says. The movie "comes blazing out of the shoot, but dips in its second hour, like a stretched-out piece of taffy," writes Adam Graham at Detroit News. "Still, there is a lot left to like here, and Reynolds and company crank out better, more outrageous laughs than most pure comedies. You'll laugh loud and you'll laugh hard."