Did Deadpool 2 Manage To Avoid Suffering From Sequelitis?

After so much anticipation and even one online reporter suggesting that Deadpool 2 would be a failure due to its purported poor tests screenings, the film is finally here. It seems like we had nothing to worry about, either, as it's garnered much acclaim and posted a massive opening weekend. Currently sitting pretty at 84% on Rotten Tomatoes, it debuted one percent higher than its predecessor. But does that mean it's a better movie? If you believe the Merc with a Mouth's creator, Rob Liefeld, it is. In two Tweets, he summarized his experience as so: "I cried at the end of Deadpool 2. Part was the nostalgia of the particular track blasting but mostly the emotion that they had landed the plane in such spectacular fashion. The plane is the movie in this analogy, there is no important plane landing sequence I'm referencing. "I wiped those tears away as fast as I could before the lights came up because I couldn't have everyone going 'Why is Liefeld crying over Deadpool 2?' Movie is a blast. Dream come true. Spectacular hurdle cleared. Get ready for Cable, Domino and the rest!" Naturally, Liefeld is biased since it's his creation on the big screen, so we need to look at all the evidence and analyze the facts here. Did Deadpool 2 really live up to all the hype? Let's see... Miller Vs. Leitch The biggest difference between Deadpool and Deadpool 2 was the change of directors, after Tim Miller left because of creative differences and David Leitch signed on. While many people will cite Ryan Reynolds and writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick as the catalysts for the first film's success, it was Miller's ability to bring all the madness together into a coherent feature that made it work. In Leitch, Deadpool 2 received a director with an uncanny ability to take the fight scenes to the next level – you only need to watch John Wick and Atomic Blonde to see what his style is. The previous film might've been known more for its comedy than outstanding action, but this one raises the bar for action sequences. At the same time, Miller's story was easier to follow and not trying to set up several other things. It's obvious that Deadpool 2 is the launching pad for X-Force, and probably other spinoffs, too, and as such, is stuffed with tons of possibilities. And, in the process, it actually became every comic book film it parodies. Leitch did a good job of holding it all together, though, even if his style is much different than Miller's. The Novelty Factor The one area where Deadpool 2 suffers is in the novelty factor. When the first film came out, it was something new and fresh – changing the landscape of superhero movies. This time around, you knew what to expect going into it. It's still funny and entertaining, sure, but the scenes where the character breaks the fourth wall and the opening montage, for example, aren't quite as powerful as before. You sort of expected them to happen; instead of gasping at the fact that they did. This is no fault of the filmmakers, though. Once something has been done, it's over. It'll never have the new feeling of before. In fact, if you try too hard, it might blow up in your face. Undoubtedly, the cast and crew realized this and doubled down on what they could influence. As Reynolds told The New York Times: "When there's built-in expectation, your brain always processes that as danger." The smartest thing that Deadpool 2 did was to continue where the first film left off. It stuck to what it knows best, rather than try to reinvent the wheel and veer off course. The Craziness Deadpool was raunchy and unpredictable, pulling out jokes that no one would've dreamed a major studio would allow in a million years. After all, we expect these studio execs to be sticks in the mud who listen to Bryan Adams on the weekend and think Adam Sandler is the second coming of George Carlin. Incredibly, Deadpool 2 ups the ante and gets even more insane than before. From Marvel Studios, to the DC Universe, to the US president's son-in-law, no one is safe from this movie's joke factory. In fact, it even ventured deep into South Park territory, where there's bound to be at least one lawsuit and protest in this franchise's future. As long as Reese, Wernick, and Reynolds remain as the driving forces of the creative team, then, we have nothing to worry about in terms of the Merc's next few appearances. Despite having less time to write this film than the first one, the team knocked it out of the park once again. In a recent interview with Collider, Reynolds explained the process as follows: "We had less time to obviously write this one. The other one we had, we luxuriated in eight long years of purgatory. So, this time we were really kind of cramming. We were basically like the three little bears with their laptops sitting at my house, working on Deadpool 2 as soon as we could right after Deadpool." Setting Up X-Force As it turns out, blogger Jeremy Conrad was correct about the film's treatment of the X-Force. A seminal character like Shatterstar was purely used as a gag, as he and several of his cohorts met their demise. Fans of the popular group might not be too happy about how these members were used for a silly joke, as it did spit in the face of the team's legacy, but this is a Deadpool movie, so there are no sacred cows here. Still, you can't help but feel cheated by all the previous teasers. While the trailers led us to believe the team would form a big part of the proceedings, we were hoodwinked in the end. It was a risky move by the filmmakers, and so far no one's criticized it all that much, so maybe it's just us who feel this introduction failed. Look, it's entirely possible that everything could be undone by the next movie because Deadpool has Cable's time-traveling device and already used it to save Peter. He could've utilized it to save the others as well; therefore, making the events of this past film null and void. Alternatively, maybe they're all gone and Drew Goddard's X-Force will introduce other team members. In terms of the positives, though, Cable and Domino have been warmly received, so it's dead certain they'll play a huge part of X-Force going forward, along with the Merc. Who'll join them, though, still remains a mystery, but we'd bank on the line-up being similar to the first one introduced in the comic book series. Did The Film Deliver? Taking all the above into consideration, it's safe to say that Deadpool 2 dodged the dreaded sequel curse. While it's still too early to know if it's in the same league as other part twos like Terminator 2: Judgment Day and The Dark Knight (which became the highlights of their respective franchises), it certainly delivered everything that fans were hoping for and expected. While it's easy to nitpick and compare it to its predecessor, the ultimate measure is if people enjoyed it. And judging by the audience response and critical praise so far, they certainly did. The only question now is, will Deadpool get another solo film, or is it X-Force all the way? If you ask Ryan Reynolds, he doesn't seem to keen on a third standalone outing for the Merc, saying the following in a recent interview: “For Deadpool 3, you know, it’s an odd thing to say but I don’t think there will be a Deadpool 3. I think going forward it would be an X-Force movie, which would be his team so to speak.” Whether the actor's right or not remains to be seen, but for now, we can all enjoy Wade Wilson's latest adventure in Deadpool 2 which, from the looks of it, managed to avoid suffering from sequelitis.