PLOT: A cancer-stricken mercenary named Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) signs his life over to a shadowy organization that promises to cure his illness and give him heightened abilities. While their experiments are successful, they also leave him horribly scarred, and he swears revenge on the sadistic doctor (Ed Skrein) who made him a monster while trying to reconnect with his former lover (Morena Baccarin).
REVIEW: No matter what your take on the long-awaited DEADPOOL movie is, one thing can’t be denied: Fox has more than made amends for the way they botched the character in X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE. Made by fans for fans, DEADPOOL is unapologetic fan-service that inevitably will thrill hardcore DEADPOOL devotees, with Ryan Reynolds ideally cast as the smart-ass “merc with a mouth.”
Right from the opening , which does away with traditional credits to say “starring some guy, a hot chick, a British villain” and so on, it’s clear that DEADPOOL is going to be unlike any Marvel movie you’ve ever seen, with this being a kind of anarchic one-off. Boasting a hard-R rating which means plenty of F-bombs and more gore than usual (although it’s not quite as ultra-violent as fans might expect), DEADPOOL is like the HOT SHOTS: PART DEUX of superhero movies. It gleefully pokes fun at itself throughout, with Deadpool criticizing the lack of any big staples from the other franchises putting in appearances.
Clearly shot on a tight budget, the film is very small-scale for a comic book romp, with only two real action sequences, the best of which is featured under the opening credits and memorably scored to Juice Newton’s “Angel of the Morning.” While this means the wild carnage of the comics is (by necessity) somewhat lacking, it gives director Tim Miller and writers Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese that chance to really showcase Reynolds’ off-the-wall take on the character, which is basically VAN WILDER as a superhero.
Reynolds certainly seems much more comfortable here than he did in his much-maligned GREEN LANTERN (which is frequently poked fun at along with the mouthless Weapon X version of Deadpool from WOLVERINE). Even before his transformation Reynolds’s Wade runs around constantly cracking-wise, with a sense of humor that seems cribbed from a fifth-grade joke book or a copy of Mad Magazine.
The constant one-liners are often clunky, to the point that non-fans will wonder how thirteen-year-olds ever got a movie produced, but it’s hard to argue that this kind of approach isn’t exactly what the fans expect. Where DEADPOOL goes a little wrong is the fact that everyone else plays it just as broadly. If Wade/Deadpool had been the only one acting crazy it might have given the movie some kind of crossover edge or pathos. Instead, everyone is clownish, especially lone X-Men Colossus and his trainee Negasonic Teenage Warhead. T.J Miller is supposed to be the comic relief, but – surprise – he comes off as the most normal person in the cast.
By the same token, at least DEADPOOL is different than the often assembly line superhero movies we get on a normal basis – as if the budget was so low Fox just said, “do whatever you want.” Running a lean 107 minutes, DEADPOOL moves quickly and there’s no fat on it whatsoever. The soundtrack is one of the strongest parts of the movie, with a synthy score by FURY ROAD’s Junkie XL and tons of great sappy pop songs by the likes of Chicago and Neil Sedaka.
It’s simple – if you like the Deadpool comics and appreciate the character see this. It’s made for you. By the same token, if you loathe the character stay away. If you’re more of a casual fan or not really a comic reader, you’d be well-advised to go in with an open mind. If you don’t mind a gloriously silly 100 minutes fanboy ride, you’ll have fun. But, if you expect a KINGSMAN style cross-over hit that’s not at all what this is. It’s been made for a specific cult audience but it can’t be denied – that audience will absolutely love it.