"With great power comes great irresponsibility." As the tagline suggests, nowhere is death greeted with more irreverence (or imperturbability) than in FOX's "Deadpool" franchise. The sequel's titular merc-with-a-mouth antihero, Wade Wilson, wields as many dextrous one-liners and fourth-wall breaking ribbings as he does wayward ammunition, all of which inevitably find their way into the split skulls of two-bit bad guys and low-rent goons, providing laugh-a-minute (or is it die-a-minute?) comic relief every time another expendable limb is burned, sliced, or impaled from a poor bastard's carcass. While the humor here is lively and forward-thinking in many aspects, there remains a cold, shallow disconnect between Hollywood's spate of R-rated spectacles and the rash of mass school shootings in the matron nation that spawned both. As we continue to numb ourselves to the horrific violence seen playing out in America's campuses (Santa Fe, TX marks the 216th school shooting since Columbine), we too become numb to the fetishization of brutality in our most enduring bulwark; cinema. More children living in the U.S. have been murdered in their classrooms than in Iraq and Afghanistan combined, meaning it's safer to send our kids to a war than to school. And as much as liberals ballyhoo against the "evil" Republicans and Neo-Cons for failing to get AR-15's out of the hands of teens, Hollywood’s liberal elite, who have enjoyed profiteering off of bloodthirsty action flicks for decades, have done little to curb the flashiness and appeal of these projects, all at the expense of selling tickets and comic book merchandise to the very demographic targeted in these heinous attacks.
Which is perhaps why Ryan Reynolds' flagship superhero vehicle underperformed (or at least failed to live up to its predecessor), at the weekend box office. In much the same way "The Dark Knight Rises" fell short in surpassing its forerunner after the tragic events of Aurora, Colorado, "DP2" may have suffered on similar historical pretexts: for one, it came out the same day shooter Dimitrios Pagourtzis decided to kill ten of his fellow students and educators in Santa Fe, TX — the deadliest mass school shooting since Parkland, FL on Valentine's Day — which logically so, heightened an already weary fatigue in witnessing even more people being decapitated (or dismembered) by rapid-fire machine guns, automatic rifles, and bursting halos of fire. There's also the obvious artistic and marketing fallout, which points to a glutted over-saturation of nostalgia, especially in regards to superheroes, evidenced by "Avengers: Infinity War" and "Black Panther" before it. It didn't help that "Solo" is also hitting theaters this weekend, meaning some fans may have chosen to keep their wallets shut until Memorial Day, propelling Disney to rake in another billion for its long awaited spinoff. While burnout may have contributed to the film's less-than-stellar returns, there is no denying "Deadpool 2" suffered from its own stilted retreads, without offering anything new or exciting to distinguish itself from this year's crowded pre-summer lineup. Save for, say, a more diverse cast and slightly more nuanced villain.
It's a real shame too, because Reynolds is more than capable of his own funnyman-turned-action hero stint. Yet as tinseltown has learned, begrudgingly so with 2018's "Justice League," just because a hero dons red spandex and murders a bevy of bad guys, it doesn't automatically translate to butts in the theater anymore. Perhaps before "X-Force" arrives, Reynolds can look to another famous comedian-turned-action star, Jim Carrey, who famously came out against his own film, "Kickass: 2" back in 2013 when Sandy Hook gripped our nation's heartbeats and headlines. Conservatives would be right to call out liberals for wanting to have their cake and eat it too, since we can't really afford to have it both ways — calling foul on the other team every time horror strikes is no longer a sustainable option. And if both sides want to argue for background checks, or want try to close gun show loopholes, then so be it. But it’s the weapon itself, the gun, that remains inextricably linked to our twisted national psyche, so much so that the roots which have formed underneath require the world's greatest logging firms to extricate them for good. Not every third act in a movie requires a gun, as many European films (Jean-Claude Van Damme pics not included), can attest to. They do require love, however. And empathy. An empathy we've lost with every blind eye focused on box office returns.
"DEADPOOL 2" a.k.a. “Quixotic Masculinity” Rated R. Running time: 1 hour 59 minutes.
