Movie review
May 15, 2018 · 120 min · R
Woke Score
Lower is better
Review
Deadpool 2 follows the foul-mouthed mercenary Deadpool as he assembles a short-lived team to protect a young fire-powered orphan from a time-traveling soldier named Cable while coping with the murder of his girlfriend. The story mixes graphic action, constant fourth-wall jokes, and crude humor around themes of grief, revenge, and makeshift family bonds. Visible elements include a Black actress playing the comic character Domino with major appearance changes and a background romantic relationship between two supporting female mutants, both handled through the series' sarcastic lens rather than serious messaging.
Breakdown
These are the editorial factors and ratings behind our score for Deadpool 2.
Woke representation / casting
The movie features the first openly gay superhero couple in a major film. Negasonic Teenage Warhead and Yukio are shown as girlfriends. It also features Domino, a character who was changed from a pale-skinned comic book figure to a Black woman played by Zazie Beetz.
Woke political dialogue
Deadpool makes jokes about modern social-justice words. He complains that the name X-Men is sexist and says they should be called X-People. He also makes jokes about his team having good diversity metrics. Wade makes several pansexual and gay jokes throughout the film.
Identity-driven story themes
The story is about saving a boy from a bad orphanage called Essex House. The home is a clear metaphor for gay conversion therapy camps. The leader abuses the children to cure them of being mutants. Deadpool even calls the leader a "pray the gay away" type of person in the dialogue.
Western institutional / cultural critique
The movie attacks religious authority by making the main villain at the orphanage a religious zealot. He uses holy language to justify hurting children. This portrays traditional faith and religious homes as abusive, corrupt, and evil institutions that need to be destroyed.
Woke character or canon changes
The movie makes big changes to comic book history. Domino is race-swapped to be a Black actress. Yukio is completely changed from an adult Japanese ninja into a cute teenage mutant girlfriend for Negasonic just to create an LGBTQ relationship.
Anti-woke backlash and complaints
Some fans complained online about the movie changing the race of Domino. Others did not like the inclusion of gay themes or the jokes about the name X-Men being sexist. However, the heavy use of crude, R-rated humor kept most fans from being too upset.
Creator track record context
Ryan Reynolds has a score of 25 because he has donated to Democrats but also dislikes identity politics. Co-writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick have low scores of 8. The editors also have low scores, showing a team with very little history of public activism.
Production
