'Deadpool 2' review: The hardest that I've laughed in a theater all year

Best post-credits scene ever made, ever.

In February of 2016, Deadpool demolished the box-office and went on to be one of the highest grossing R-rated films of all time. Two years later and Deadpool 2 is looking to do it again.

No further introduction is needed than that, really. You all know who Deadpool is at this point, and I’m sure you’re well aware that Deadpool 2 is coming out.

We do have a new director this time around though, as Tim Miller has left the project — John Wick and Atomic Blonde helmer David Leitch took over.

As promised by the post-credit scene in the first Deadpool, we’re also bringing Cable into the mix with Deadpool 2. Instead of being played by Dolph Lundgren or Keira Knightley, he’s portrayed by none other than Thanos himself, Mr. Josh Brolin.

Cable, for those of you unfamiliar with the character, is from the future. Think Terminator, as he’s a time-traveler with a robotic arm, filthy teddy bear and a bad attitude.

Also like Terminator, he didn’t travel back in time just to see the sights — he’s here to kill a kid. To be fair, it’s not just any kid. It’s a mutant named Russell (Julian Dennison) who, in Cable’s timeline, grows up to cause a lot of harm to a lot of people.

Wade Wilson isn’t a big fan of kids. Deadpool has never been one to tone down his appearance or behavior around minors, and he’s certainly not willing to stick his neck out for someone who’s being hunted by someone as dangerous as Cable.

Yet, after some life-changing events that involve Wilson’s flame Vanessa (Morena Baccarin), he finds himself sucked in the situation and having to defend this kid.

He can’t do it alone. Along with help from his former “friends” Colossus (Stefan Kapicic) and Negasonic Teenage Warhead (Brianna Hildebrand), Wilson has decided to assemble his very own team of remarkable people.

Introducing the X-Force — an R-rated gang of mutants that are SURE to be able to carry their own franchise for the next ten to fifteen years (which Deadpool gleefully points out at nearly every opportunity).

Members include Domino (Zazie Beetz), Zeitgeist (Bill Skarsgard), Bedlam (Terry Crews), Shatterstar (Lewis Tan), Vanisher (a great cameo that the IMDB page spoils, so be careful) and mild-manner Peter (Rob Delaney) who has no powers whatsoever and is just along for the ride.

Despite how much of a hit the first Deadpool was, I still had certain reservations about Deadpool 2. Deadpool worked, in some ways, because Fox didn’t realize how much of a hit they had on their hands. They released Deadpool almost as an experiment, seeing if the audience would respond to something that’s this obscene and out there.

They did, which then puts Fox in a position where they have to try and re-capture that lightning in a bottle. That’s something we’ve seen this fail time and time again. Having all the tabloid-like headlines about why Tim Miller left the project wasn’t doing Deadpool any favors either.

Yet, against all odds, Deadpool 2 delivers and had me laughing from start to finish. Obviously, I can’t spoil what any of those jokes are, but there are moments in here that people are going to be talking about for a long, long time.

Ryan Reynolds is once again great, as he delivers the perfect amount of spoof to the whole thing, but one of the big standouts winds up being Cable.

Granted, it takes him way too long to be introduced to the movie (Deadpool 2 has a slow start overall, as it’s not until after the first ten or fifteen minutes when the movie really finds its groove). When he does finally come, Brolin is playing someone who’s all tough and serious — which only makes sense, as Cable has lost his entire family and is now on a bloody revenge movie.

As the film goes on, Cable never looses that serious, dramatic weight to him, but we do see him loosen up a bit to fit the jokiness of the characters around him. The balance that they give to him winds up doing Deadpool 2 all kinds of favors, as just having jokes from start to finish would have been too much.

Speaking of seriousness, I give this franchise all the credit in the world for managing to work a serious, believable relationship between Wade and Vanessa into this thing. Their interactions was a standout in the first Deadpool and it’s a standout in Deadpool 2. This time, they take it in a direction I wasn’t expecting in the slightest, but the points they wind up making — on topics like mental illness and suicide — are actually great and done in a mature way.

As for the X-Force themselves, I won’t say much because you really have to see the movie to understand what kind of role they play. The clear standout is Zazie Beatz as Domino, who is another fun addition who fits right in. Luck is totally a superpower by the way, as it’s far more cinematic than anyone ever guessed it could be.

We can’t leave out Julian Dennison either. He’s pretty much playing the exact same kind of character that he did in Hunt for the Wilderpeople, but I’m okay with that because not many people have seen Hunt for the Wilderpeople. Hopefully, Deadpool 2 will bring them back to that film and then continue to get Dennison more work, because the kid is a star.

It’s great to see Colossus and Negasonic Teenage Warhead return too. I’m really glad that the franchise decided to keep these characters and not abandon them after the first Deadpool, because they really do add a lot to these films. Neither of them gets a ton of screen time in Deadpool 2 — especially Negasonic Teenage Warhead — but they make the most of what they have.

Credit also has to be given to David Leitch. I wasn’t a fan of Atomic Blonde (like, at all) and had a few reservations about him coming on board. While you can definitely tell that Deadpool 2 is directed by someone different than the first Deadpool, his energetic style ends up working far better than I expected it too.

In the end, I still prefer the first Deadpool just slightly over Deadpool 2. Maybe it’s just because of all the risks had to take when making Deadpool or because of a more straightforward plot, but there’s something about that film that just works on every level. Deadpool 2 can’t quite hit that level, but it is able to live up to the enormous amounts of hype that surround it. Ryan Reynolds is born to play this role — he’s clearly having the time of his life here, which translates to screen so well. After the first ten minutes went by, I found myself laughing almost non-stop and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about some of the jokes in here since I got back from the theater. While this franchise will inevitably run itself into the ground by becoming too on-the-nose or in-your-face, we haven’t reached that point yet. Deadpool 2 is still a ton of fun.

Watch the trailer for Deadpool 2 here and then let us know, in the comments below, what you thought of the movie!