This was a weird and difficult watch on some levels.

Firstly you've got Ryan Renolds who never fails to be entertaining in anything he does. He's just a funny guy so that's a big plus.

And he's joined by some great casting choices here. There were a few likable people in this film, and cast giving good engaging performances.

But balance that against the the director, with a track record of meaningless bombast, and a weird and problematic story.

They obviously wanted to do a heroes save the world from baddies narrative, and recognised that they could not use the US military as those said heroes, not with their current track record of corruption and evil (collateral damage etc) so they invent an independent crew of mostly American rogue operators roaming the world overturning regimes they decide they don't like.

It was really dicey ground in the current climate and I'm not saying it wasn't entertaining in places but some of it was way off.

It was deep in the concept of cartoon baddies that can be slaughtered wholesale, brutally and violently, not to mention graphically, all with a cheeky wink. Taken scene by scene with Ryan's witty quips it didn't seem so bad but as an over all arch, it's jut kinda uncomfortable to be served this as a plateful of entertainment.

I just don't think this works any more and it getting dumped as a franchise for possible sequels probably indicates that higher up powers also think that.

It was impressively crafted on a notably big scale, by people who know what they're doing technically, but a lot of huff and puff for no valid end.