Bad pre-release buzz be damned, Deadpool 2 might just be the best comedy sequel of all-time.

Test audiences hated it!  The jokes aren't funny!  All the creative talent left with the original director!  Deadpool 2 is going to bomb at the box office!  These were just some of the pre-release worries surrounding Deadpool 2.  Maybe they lowered my expectations a little bit, but hot damn were they wrong!  Deadpool 2 is a hell of a lot of fun and I enjoyed it more than the original.  It's the rare comedy sequel that improves upon the original.  Granted, I thought the original was slightly overrated, but still, this one was better in most ways... except one.  I'll get into that in a little bit.

Deadpool 2 picks up right where the original left off.  Deadpool (aka Wade Wilson) has gone global.  He's cracking wise and kicking ass all over the world.  And at home, he's settling into married life.  That is, until a kill that got away comes back to bite him and (spoiler) kills his wife.  Deadpool goes into a funk and this is the only real part where I thought the movie struggled.  It took its sweet time trying to humanize Wade Wilson to the point of slowing down the movie.  I get why they did it, but I felt it took its sweet ass time getting there.  He's forced to seek refuge (and friendship) with the X-Men... in particular Negasonic Teenage Warhead and Colossus (there's a funny bit addressing where the other X-Men are that I won't ruin).  Not long after joining their ranks as a trainee, do we meet a troubled mutant youth... who brings the time traveling Cable to this world.  Cable (played gruffly by, who else, Josh Brolin), is from the future and is hell bent on killing this mutant kid before he can inflict damage on the future.  Deadpool, always a loner, is forced to create a team to take down Cable.  The best of the bunch is Domino (whose superpower is luck... something that plays out hysterically).

This is the moment that the movie really picks up steam.  Giving Deadpool characters to riff off of makes up for the poor attempt at humanizing Wade Wilson.  He's quick-witted and really lives up to his "Merc With A Mouth" billing.  I won't ruin it, but their attempt at jumping into battle is probably the highlight of the movie.

Deadpool 2 thrives because it gives its title character more to do than spew one-liners.  Whereas the original was probably a little too self-reflexive for its own good, DP2 doesn't get buried under the pressure of living up to an "out of nowhere" hit.  There's enough of a plot and enough characters to keep this film from getting too stale.  I'm not sure if you'll like this one if you were a critic of the original, but its better than it has any right to be.  There are a lot of pop culture references, but they never feel like they're drowning the script.  Usually, they're a witty one-liner to help lighten the mood.

I think my only squabble with this one is that it takes a little too much time trying to pull at your heart strings in the first act.  I found that I was taken out of the comedy any time that Deadpool took off the mask.  However, by the time the movie kicks into gear in the second act, all is forgiven.  Ryan Reynolds plays this role as if it's a part of him.  He's so passionate about the character, and so good at being Deadpool that you forgive the boring parts.  He has a way of pulling you back into the movie with his sheer will and charm.

If I had to pick another thing to quibble with, it would be that Josh Brolin doesn't really bring much to the character of Cable (a personal favorite of mine) that it's hard to imagine they couldn't have found somebody better.  I get the allure of getting a big name to play the character, but he's already Thanos in The Avengers (something that gets called out in the film), so I'm not sure it shouldn't have gone to someone else.  Maybe I'm just feeling the Brolin overload (he also stars in the Sicario sequel this summer).  He struggled at times with his comedic lines.

Other than that, I'd highly recommend Deadpool 2.  3 out of 4 stars.  There are 2 mid-credit scenes that are absolutely hilarious.  Don't stay until the end as there are no post-credit scenes.