Deadpool 2 is depressing. It’s not depressing because of its emotional moments, even though there are plenty of effective ones. It is depressing because it is a film that tries to be serious and funny at the same time and, in my opinion, it fails. The film opens with an incredibly funny and entertaining montage of Deadpool being Deadpool. He mows through dozens of enemies while spouting jokes as Dolly Parton’s “Nine to Five” plays in the background. It’s one of the best scenes in the film.
However, once this scene ends there is an incredibly emotional death. It is very well acted, and I can remember watching the scene and thinking it was incredibly ballsy and well-written. Unfortunately, the following scene is a parody of the opening music video of a Bond film. This is swiftly followed by a bar scene with multiple jokes.
The opening ten minutes very effectively displays the issues the rest of the film faces. It tries to place emotionally harrowing scenes in the middle of a comedy and unfortunately, it doesn’t work because the film refuses to commit to either of these two estranged tones for more than a few moments. When it does commit, it works. As mentioned before the death had great impact. Even though it completely ruined the scene before and created an irritating clash of tones, the parodic Bond opener, and the bar scenes were also hilarious on their own.
I don’t think it’s fair to call it a bad film. There is enjoyment to be had. I went to see this film with a group of friends and they all thoroughly enjoyed it, simply because the comedic moments were so funny that they were able to look past its flaws. I still found the comedic moments hilarious. It’s just that I couldn’t see past them and forget the film’s major flaws.
Judging from my experience with my friends, I am probably in a minority when I say that ultimately Deadpool 2 is disappointing. It is an example of just how important a consistent tone is for a film. Here’s hoping the inevitable Deadpool 3 will get it right.