Deadpool was a huge gamble for Fox. They had done well with their X-Men movies from Marvel, but had failed to do anything successful with Fantastic Four and already lost Daredevil back to Marvel. Deadpool is part of the X-Men universe, and Fox already screwed that up with X-Men Origin: Wolverine. However, Ryan Reynolds, the man who played Deadpool in that movie was keen to get the character on the big screen the right way.
Reynolds was also a big reason for concern. He was good as Hannibal King in Blade: Trinity, but that movie killed the Blade franchise. He was completely wrong as Hal Jordan in The Green Lantern. His portrayal as Wade Wilson in X-Men Origin: Wolverine was fine until the movie stupidly sewed his mouth shut and turned him into a different character. His most recent was the fun but very stupid R.I.P.D., a movie with laughable special effects. That was four comic book movies that were all bombs for Reynolds.
Luckily, Ryan Reynolds knew what made Deadpool popular and he fought hard to get the movie made the way it should have been. Reynolds made a trailer with director Tim Miller that showed Deadpool breaking the fifth wall and talking to the audience while killing bad guys without remorse. It worked because fans loved it and Fox bought into it. Not only that, but Fox also agreed to make it R-rated, despite some fools petitioning to get it PG-13 “for the kids.”
This movie was a solid R-rated movie and anything less would have been completely wrong for Deadpool.
The movie starts off with the greatest opening credits ever made. I’ll leave it at that, so as not to spoil the surprise.
The movie is a fractured narrative. It opens with Deadpool heading out to kill the man who ruined his life and it flashes back and forth between his origin story and the present battle with the evil Ajax (Ed Skrein). That might be the only real downfall of this movie. The back and forth slows things down at times, but it also eases the audience into the insane R-rated action, which includes splattering brains all along the way.
It is during this first battle, which between it and the origin story takes up about half of the movie, also sees the introduction of The X-Men. Well, we only get two X-Men and Deadpool makes a comment later about that fact. They are Colossus (Stefan Kapicic), who is the straight man and is very funny when paired up with Deadpool, and Negasonic Teenage Warhead (Brianna Hildebrand), who is funny at points and has her powers changed up for the movie.
The main bad guy is Ajax, a mutant who feels no pain, which makes him a prefect nemesis for Deadpool, since Deadpool has regenerative powers that are even better than Wolverine’s. He has a secondary villain on his side in Angel Dust (Gina Carano), who is a good match fighting Colossus. Add in a supportive cast that includes T.J. Miller as Weasel, Morena Baccarin (Firefly) as Deadpool’s ex-fiancée Vanessa, and Leslie Uggams as Blind Al, and the cast really helps carry the movie.
The movie itself is very light and fluffy, but it is also very hilarious and extremely fun. When playing Wade Wilson, Reynolds was cocky and funny but kept it relatively straight. However, people who wanted to see Deadpool breaking the fifth wall and acknowledging the ridiculousness of the situation, it also happens after he is turned into Deadpool. Director Tim Miller said that it is part of his powers, in a way.
The action is shot great and is also a very good R-rated comic look at violence. It works very well here and wasn’t overused, which made it even better. Much like Guardians of the Galaxy, this movie proved that comic book movies can also be fun and different. Deadpool was worth the wait for fans who wanted to see the popular character done right. It isn’t like anything you have ever seen before.
Is it perfect? No. Is it the most fun you will have at the movies so far in 2016? Hell yeah it is.
Learn more about Deadpool at the official Fox website.
