Why Deadpool 2 Is The Best X-Men Movie Yet

As far as comic book adaptations go, they don't get much smarter than this.

By Ewan Paterson /

Fox

Though all the trailers, TV spots and adverts might not have made it clear, Deadpool 2 is a love-letter to nineties X-Men, and a triumph in the superhero genre.

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While the first film went on to endear itself to audiences thanks to a refreshing - albeit slightly irreverent - plot (one made by a particularly untempered performance by lead Ryan Reynolds), the sequel makes efforts to ensure that everyone knows it's an X-Men film. The charm of the first is still there of course, but in terms of embodying the spirit of the X-books' most iconic decade - the nineties - Deadpool 2 is a near perfect movie.

In that respect, and while the film could certainly be called a pallet cleanser in the aftermath of the devastatingly good Avengers: Infinity War, Deadpool 2 actually follows in the footsteps of some of the genre's most lauded efforts, encapsulating the scope and unabashed comic book-y-ness of films like Infinity War, along with all the heft, drama and emotion that has typified Marvel's most recent movies.

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Yes, Deadpool 2 might not be a Logan, an X2 or even a Days of Future Past, but it does achieve what it sets out to do in a remarkably uncompromising way. Doing so allows the film to embody the spirit of the X-Men's most pivotal decade, and while it's a period Dark Phoenix will venture to next year, Deadpool 2 has - unlike X-Force's very own Zeitgeist - placed its finger firmly on the pulse of the mythos' history.

SPOILERS AHEAD...

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