Starring Ryan Reynolds, Josh Brolin, Morena Baccarin, Julian Dennison, Zazie Beetz, TJ Miller, Brianna Hildebrand, Jack Kesy  and a bunch of people it’s really best to be pleasantly surprised by when you see them

Directed by David Leitch

Fox, out now

It’s a Deadpool movie, you know what you’re getting!

OR DO YOU?

There’s a moment early on in Deadpool 2 where Wade tells you that what you’re watching is a family movie. Just a really, REALLY, immensely violent one.

He’s right, and it’s GLORIOUS.

I’m going to keep this as non-spoilery as possible because this really is a movie you need to come to as cold as possible. Suffice to say it’s structured like the original; we start at the end of act 1, work up to there and then progress. Wade has a very, very very VERY bad day. He doesn’t deal with it well, and then, slowly, he does.

As the film careens from the X-Mansion to the future to a mutant prison called the Icebox, David Leitch leaves no stone punched in the face. Leitch, of John Wick fame, is exceptional at using violence to drive character and that’s exactly what we get here. Cable is direct, efficient, brutal. He’s overly fond of turning the bones in an opponents’ gun arm into powder and when he meets Wade, who uses his rubbery dislocated arm to try and choke him out, the disgust and annoyance is tangible. Brolin is great here, more direct and aggressive than his role as Thanos but as nuanced and fragile. More likeable too. One of the best gags in the movie is Cable closing his eyes and breathing in, and Cable’s permanently flexed straight man to Wade’s caffeine-riddled single synapse comedy is a joy.

However, the film is stolen by two cast members. Julian Dennison, star of Taika Waititi’s Hunt for the Wilderpeople (If you haven’t seen it, run, do not walk to your nearest movie vendor. It’s amazing) is phenomenal here as FireFist. A young, furious, abused mutant with anger issues and a desperate need for someone to be his friend, he’s the heart and soul of the movie and his scenes with Wade are as emotional as they are funny. Dennison is an incredible young actor and the boiling rage that defines the final scene here is all carried by him and all feels genuine, earned and terrifying. Plus he’s very, very funny when he’s called on to be.

And then there’s Zazie Beetz as Domino. Her mutant power is the ability to skew probability in her favour. She’s lucky, in other words, and all you have to do is put her next to Wade, who is as far from lucky as you can get, to generate comedy. Beetz plays her with this sunny, zen-like calm that’s instantly endearing and the gradual friendship she builds with Wade is honestly very sweet. The repeated ‘You’re doing GREAT’ and whispered ‘X-FORCE’ between them is especially hilarious. And, usually, deployed just as something horrible is about to happen.

These three characters open Wade’s universe out and give the film access to much more specific emotional beats than last time. There’s genuine sweetness here and a couple of heart-rending moments that take a trope that could land very badly and absolutely nail it. This is the first movie I’ve seen where the sudden lack of make up has made me tear up. It’s subtle when it needs to be, raucous when it doesn’t and it’s always ambitious, funny and magnificently squalid.

Verdict: If you liked the first one, this is better. If you didn’t like the first one, run for the hills. Or, maybe, try this anyway. It takes the most violent Canadian in history to places you wouldn’t expect and places, it turns out, he needs to be. 10/10

Alasdair Stuart

Life is going well for super-powered mercenary Wade Wilson and Vanessa, but there are consequences to a job where he leaves some dangling threads, ultimately leading to a stay in prison and the formation of an X-Men splinter group.

Opening with a closeup of a revolving, impaled Wolverine toy, Deadpool bemoans how the movie Logan took advantage of its R-rating, essentially taking the edge off 2016’s Deadpool. It’s the first of many moments in David Leitch’s sequel where our anti-hero not only breaks the fourth wall by talking to us, but smashes it wide open by referring to the DC movie universe, actors who play the X-Men and the studio that bankrolls the movies. It’s not just meta, it’s mega-meta!

Those who were won over by Ryan Reynolds’ potty-mouthed cancer-ridden mercenary last time round can heave a sigh of relief that he’s back with both guns blazing. The humour is less locker room, but no less shocking, and at times you’ll find yourself laughing before wondering whether you should be laughing.

Josh Brolin is the go-to villain for Marvel movies this year, having recently provided the mo-cap and voice for Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War and now a live-action (though with occasional CGI limb embellishments) as future soldier Cable, who is travelling back in time to hunt someone down – and it’s a measure of the confidence of this movie they not only does Wade make direct references to Thanos, but also John Connor and Cable’s ‘Winter Soldier arm’.

There’s some great set pieces in the mutant prison (the Ice Box), a daring rescue and some other surprises that I have no intention of spoiling for you. Colossus and Negasonic Teenage Warhead make a welcome return (the latter having a cute girlfriend at the Xavier Mansion) but even more fun is the new crew that Wade assembles as X-Force. With powers ranging from good luck, to invisibility to… none whatsoever, this ragtag team are hilarious, with Zazie Beetz standing out as the feisty Domino. And Julian Dennison from Hunt for the Wilderpeople is a joy as young, damaged mutant Russell.

Verdict: Excessive, rude, and containing a gag that is actually funnier than its predecessor’s ‘baby hand’ moment, this is a hilarious way to spend two hours, and it’s essential that you watch both mid-credit scenes at the end. 9/10

Nick Joy