Deadpool 2 brings the noise, as well as the pathos

Ryan Reynolds in Deadpool 2. Image courtesy 20th Century Fox.

The interesting thing about Deadpool 2 is the darkness behind the jokes. Although it doesn’t quite qualify as a black comedy, the subject matter for the irreverent sequel is bleak for a movie featuring a plethora of crotch shots and lewd behavior from its eponymous figure. Lurking underneath all the fun and sight gags is a strong debate concerning how much control a person has over their faith, along with the existential tragedy of a being who cannot die. No matter how much the movie tries to avoid those topics, it’s the seriousness of the underlying subject matter that holds the movie together.

Deadpool 2 is about what a viewer would expect a sequel to the impressively popular Deadpool would be. Ryan Reynolds comes back as the eponymous hero-ish figure, trying to get in the good graces of the random X-Men he comes across. The film expands its cinematic universe with the addition of a few new characters (Josh Brolin as the time traveling mutant Cable, Zazie Beetz as Domino, Julian Dennison as Russell) and blends them in with a few characters from the original (Morena Baccarin’s Vanessa, Leslie Uggams as Blind Al, Brianna Hildebrand as Negasonic Teenage Warhead, Karan Soni as Dopinder, and T.J. Miller as Weasel). And the mix, for the most part, works. Cable and Domino are great additions to the franchise, with both serving as strong, necessary foils to Deadpool’s shenanigans. The plot is less reliant on the superhero tropes that drove the original, and the action sequences are engaging and shot well enough. 

 

There are holes to be found (Miller being one of them), but Deadpool as a franchise is inherently difficult to criticize, as the plethora of fourth-wall breaks serves as its own meta-criticism. Deadpool 2 is aware of, and actively points to, the clichés it indulges in and the holes that plague many superhero movies. Essentially, it means the decision to have a character comment on a problem the viewer picked up on as well means there is an intent to having that issue in the first place. It's difficult to call something a flaw when it is ultimately turned into a joke. But at the same time, the need to have that joke is something of a problem itself, reflecting minimal creativity from the writers. If the joke is about how the filmmakers are in on the joke, it doesn't make it that good of a joke in the first place. 

 

Even with that somewhat existential problem, the humor in Deadpool 2 is pretty good for viewers who are in on the joke. The movie targets everything, from Logan and star Hugh Jackman, to the continued absence of a majority of the X-Men, to Deadpool's comic creator's inability to draw feet. The humor the movie has going for it is equal parts sharp and silly, hitting very easy targets and some more interesting ones along the way. The humor, both meta and visual, are often brutal and gory, but never truly mean-spirited or cruel. For all the potshots and woodchipper incidents, the film's tone is more often than not goofy.

The overarching silliness masks the movie’s underlying pain and tragedy. Deadpool 2 has an unexpected philosophical bite, with a notable strong debate about fatalism. On the one hand is Cable, who has the ability to travel through time and alter history, making it appear as if he is in control. Yet then there’s Domino, a character whose superpower is good fortune, allowing fate to have full control over her actions. Deadpool is trapped between those two forces, controlled by the time traveler’s actions and Domino’s reliance on fate. There is a logic to an embodiment of chaos lacking control over his fate, and the lack of control often comes at the expense of his happiness. No matter how close he comes to some level of joy, fate pulls him away.

When the sadness hits, it hits really hard, and it ultimately keeps Deadpool 2 from sinking into self reference. The movie knows when to drop the schtick and allow the necessary emotionally heavy scenes to shine. The number of opportunities for the movie to be heartfelt are minimal, but the few that do show up are granted the solemnity they require to at least allow for some growth for the titular mercenary. Even if the motivation for the introspection is a little weak (and, again, something the film makes fun of), the emotional payoff in the third act is worthwhile and deserved. Viewers see just enough of Deadpool's arc without the jokes to respect the moment when it comes to fruition.

Review: Four out of Five Stars

Click here to see the trailer.

Rating: R

Run time: 119 minutes

Genre: Action

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Target audience: The unending onslaught of superhero fans, especially those who are really in love with Deadpool.

Take the whole family?: Oh lord no.

Theater or Netflix?: It's good enough for a theater trip.

Watch this as well?: The original Deadpool is pretty fun, if somewhat slight in comparison. The X-Men franchise is hit or miss, with X-Men 2 and Days of Future Past the highlights. Also worth watching is last year’s Logan, which fits more in line with the Wolverine spin-offs.

Infinity War a big, bold Avengers installment

Thanos (Josh Brolin) in a scene from Avengers: Infinity War. Image courtesy Disney.

Avengers: Infinity War makes it clear from the start exactly what the eponymous superhero group faces. The movie kicks off showing the brilliant power its villain Thanos (Josh Brolin) possesses, while hinting at just how zealous he is about it. Stakes matter in a movie as big and bold as Infinity War; viewers need to respect what the nearly two-dozen heroes have to battle against to make the necessary bloat worthwhile. The heroes in this movie aren't simply fighting the concept of amazing destruction, but a being legitimately powerful enough to make that happen. What they face is important, and the movie never lets up on how much they have to accomplish to win.

Infinity War is both the movie one would expect from Marvel's years of buildup and something largely unexpected. It's as big as it should be, littered with heroes ranging from franchise staples to new additions in the last decade or so of movies. Viewers get barbs lobbed between Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Dr. Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) and Star-Lord (Chris Pratt). Thor (Chris Hemsworth) chills with Rocket Raccoon (Bradley Cooper) and Groot (Vin Diesel). Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen), Vision (Paul Bettany), Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman), Captain America (Chris Evans), Mantis (Pom Klementieff) Falcon (Anthony Mackie), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), War Machine (Don Cheadle), Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Bucky (Sebastian Stan), and Drax (Dave Bautista) take on aliens and other malevolent beings. Spider-man (Tom Holland) is around being all doe-eyed and awkward. Almost everyone of note from a decade of movies is here, and Infinity War spends a lot of time ensuring they all get a few moments to shine. The result is an immense run time, although directors Anthony and Joe Russo keep the drag to a minimum, making for a pretty smooth 150-minute movie. 

 

Pretty much every aesthetic selling point is handled well in this movie. The action sequences are well coordinated and range from small melees to epic battles against alien beings. The Marvel Cinematic Universe’s trademark jokes work more often than not, in large part because the addition of so many otherwise unconnected characters adds a new dynamic to the banter. On the most basic level, Infinity War is the movie people who have followed this franchise would want; the good stuff is there, and it's done rather well. And yet there's still a lot of unexpected bits to Infinity War. With the high stakes established so early, the tone of the movie is not as bright as the banter makes it appear. The jokes aren't as jovial or friendly as they usually are in Marvel films; in this case, the humor is rooted in fear and stress, a reaction to the situation the heroes face. The tone is less hopeful than before, more desperate and worrisome.

A lot of that has to do with how writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely plan their narrative. The film’s focus at first glance is stopping Thanos, the actual protagonist is Thanos himself. It's his quest to collect the Infinity Stones that drives the movie, his journey toward what he believes to be a better universe. The heart of Infinity War lies not amongst the collection of heroes, but with its villain. Brolin's Thanos is not a simple monster bent on destruction for the sake of destruction, or evil just because the film requires him to be the villain for the heroes to fight. The methods to his goal of creating balance in a chaotic universe are horrifying, but there remains an iota of logic to what he wants to accomplish. In his mind, he’s performing a selfless act, and its his fervor as much as the abundance of power he seeks that makes him so dominant. Fanaticism is incredibly dangerous, especially for an infinitely powerful being capable of sacrificing everything for what he deems to be a necessary cause.

 

Making a superhero movie based on the villain is an interesting, albeit counterintuitive choice. What it does though is give Infinity War a sense of urgency it didn’t have before, selling Thanos’ power and conviction to his cause. It makes for a fairly dark superhero movie, adding enough shade to a sunny franchise to keep the audience guessing at what comes next. There’s still reasons for optimism in the Marvel Universe, but they are far more difficult to find than ever been before.

Review: Four and a half out of Five Stars

Click here to see the trailer.

Rating: PG-13

Run time: 150 minutes

Genre: Action

Ask Away
Target audience: People who have watched MCU movies for the last 10 years, as well as anyone else into comic book movies.

Take the whole family?: The tone gets pretty heavy, and families who prefer to limit their children's exposure to violence should keep the kids home. Generally though this isn't too problematic.

Theater or Netflix?: Totally worth a trip to the cinema.

What happens next?: That is an enormous question. Looking at the upcoming slate of films – Ant-Man gets his sequel in a few months, followed by a Captain Marvel movie – gives a little idea of how things will play out. But given how this movie goes, there's a whole lot of room for interpretation for the next installment. Although that is half the fun of these movies; trying to figure out what happens next.

Watch this as well?: Just pick just about anything from the Marvel Cinematic Universe and you'll be in pretty good shape. D.C. has Wonder Woman, but that’s about it.

Life in pictures, in a picture

Josh Brolin in a scene from "Hail, Caesar!" Image courtesy Universal Pictures.

Picking on Hollywood for being shallow and vainglorious and outright artificial is both easy and passé, at least when its done by lesser hands. “Hail, Caesar!” – a flick that teases Hollywood for the reasons listed above and more – is, fortunately, a Coen Brothers film, which automatically grants this movie a little more panache than it would have otherwise. And while even cinema’s greatest sibling pairing can’t avoid the trappings of the insider flick, their version flashes the brothers’ eccentric mindset, and it’s quite clear the brothers mock with love, not viciousness.

Based on the imagination of the Joel and Ethan Coen, “Hail, Caesar!” stars the terrific Josh Brolin as the perfectly named Eddie Mannix, a Hollywood studio head defined by his efficiency, tireless work ethic, and perfect mustache. Taking place over the course of around 28 hours or so, the film catches Brolin amid his day-to-day business dealings, including breaking up illicit photo sessions with a starlet, converting oater star Hobie Doyle (Alden Ehrenreich) into the star of a Douglas Sirk-esque flick (directed by Ralph Fiennes), and arranging to have pregnant star DeeAnna Morgan (Scarlett Johansson) married off before her child is born. The man has a pretty busy life, and it gets all the crazier when the star of his upcoming blockbuster “Hail, Caesar!” Baird Whitlock (George Clooney) is kidnapped by a gaggle of communist writers and held for ransom. All of that comes on the same day that Brolin must decide if he'll take a management position with Lockheed Martin, a job that offers better pay, better hours and far less insanity. Throughout the day he also visits a slew of characters played by Tilda Swinton, Channing Tatum, Jonah Hill, Frances McDormand, Alison Pill and an armada of that guys.

“Hail, Caesar!” is a rather silly little film made by two of the best filmmakers of all time, which makes it something more than a silly little film. A Coen Brothers film is guaranteed to have more going on than what it shows, and there is certainly something bubbling beneath the surface of Clooney's innocent mugging and sly gay jokes at Tatum's expense. There's definitely religious undertones – a bit heavy handed, although perhaps a jab at their own reliance on them? – as well as commentary about the McCarthy era and about the pettiness of Hollywood life, topics that have been covered frequently, including by the Coens themselves in movies like “Barton Fink.”

Few filmmakers would wrap those subjects in such a bright, shiny ribbon as the Coen Boys do. The brothers weave in era-appropriate dance numbers, synchronized swimming routines and even a lovely little cowboy song into the swing of thing, weaving in footage of films within the universe depicted in “Hail, Caesar!” – including the titular flick featuring Clooney's Whitman – with the reality in which those films are shot. The divide between the film’s reality and the films within the film become difficult to parse as the movie goes on; Michael Gambon's narrator provides voiceover for “Hail, Caesar!” the movie and “Hail, Caesar!” the movie within the movie and stars will find themselves reenacting scenes from their own films in the fake real life. Two of the actors even start singing a song together that, in most films, would lead into a full-on musical number (the fact it doesn't and ultimately segues into a sequence befitting a noir thriller is totally Coen).

The downside of the blurring reality is the effect it has on the plot machinations. The Coens paint themselves into a corner when it comes to the resolution for the internal strife Brolin's Mannix faces; there is only one way the film could end because “Hail, Caesar!” follows the same rules as the fake movies it parodies adoringly. It's not the first time the Coen Brothers have run up against this problem, and it kills the sense of uncertainty featured in their best work.

Darn it though if the movie itself isn't a blast. The Coen boys know their way around fast talking characters, and the actors they enlist are up to the challenge of revisiting a strange time in filmmaking history. “Hail, Caesar!” certainly never reaches the brilliance of “No Country for Old Men” or “Fargo” or “Miller's Crossing” or “The Big Lebowski” or “Raising Arizona,” but it is just fine as it is; a fun, smart and peculiar little film.

Review: Four out of Five Stars

Click here to see the trailer.

Rating: PG-13

Run time: 106 minute

Genre: Comedy

Ask Away

Target audience: Coen Brothers film fans and people who like screwball comedies.

Take the whole family?: There really isn't anything overly explicit about this film. The kids would get a little bored by it, but they won't require earmuffs either.

Theater or Netflix?: Good for a rainy day matinee.

Is this really a February film?: Even if this isn’t the best Coen Brothers film, the thing is much better than the average February selection. It’s not quite good enough on the whole to fit the late fall Oscar rush (although I hope Josh Brolin isn’t forgotten for next year’s Academy Awards) and this definitely isn’t a summer film either. Such a shame to waste a good film during the worst season for films.

Watch this as well?: Almost everything by the Coens is at least good, but “Barton Fink” and the cruelly underrated “Hudsucker Proxy” exhibit the filmmakers' quirky take on Hollywood life and love for fast talking films, respectively. Also flag down Robert Altman's “The Player,” which features “Hudsucker Proxy” lead Tim Robbins as a darker version of Brolin’s Eddie Mannix.