The announcement of Deadpool alone thrilled large amounts of people looking for news on the Marvel character. It was able to create the desired level of buzz, but that was only a part of the success that was being targeted. For everyone invested in some way, the real triumph would come only if the movie added true value for fans by being faithful to the source material and by providing a level of satisfaction that would give them reasons to cheer, laugh and head home happy.
The story centers around Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds), a mercenary who used to work as a former Special Forces operative. His life appeared to be shaping up quite nicely for a while now, but things take a drastic turn after he’s subjected to an experiment that leaves him in a strange state with uncanny super abilities. Armed with his new powers and the same brash humor, Wilson becomes Deadpool and chooses to seek vengeance on the man who ruined his life.
Deadpool brings much of what people hoping for a comic book movie for adults would contain. There’s obviously a good amount of violence, but along with it comes the blood and gore that’s always missing in your average “family friendly” superhero flick. Coming from someone like me, this is a great thing to see since I love action movies that don’t always work within the parameters that most modern movies are forced to work under.
Aside from the violence, there’s predictably a great deal of comedy that’s spread across Deadpool as well. Quite honestly, this is one of the funniest movies I’ve seen in the last couple of years. That’s insane when you think about all of the movies that rely solely on getting people to laugh. When looking at comedy in film as a whole, I guess this can be considered a bad thing as well since most of the comedies being produced tend to be utter garbage these days.
My only complaint comes from the fact that it’s not handled in chronological order as much as it should be. I understand why they do it the way that they do, but it disrupts some of the cooler scenes that get more and more interesting as they move along. I found myself becoming engaged with a few scenes, but once they cut back to the past (sometimes present), you’re taken out of it. I found myself not liking this much, but it actually may have made the movie better since we don’t get the entire set up at the start. Plus, doing it this way allows us to get some of the action we desire much faster than we would if it had been done in the usual fashion.
Anyone who’s been following Deadpool’s long journey to the big screen knew that Ryan Reynolds would be a perfect fit to portray the character. What many probably worried about more than anything else was the quality of the actual film itself. These things are often tricky, but it looks as if the people behind it wanted it to be as entertaining as it could be. When mixing that in with the amount of freedom that a movie carrying an “R” rating can offer, it’s easy to see how they could flourish.
In spite of its structural flaws, it’s hard not to be entertained by what this movie is offering up. Sure, there could have been a couple of things done better, but Deadpool is an inspired piece of cinema that hits on both humor and action in a way that many people would want it to. The content overall is fast, energetic and ultimately serves its purpose while not overdoing it with worthless scenes and unnecessary subplots. In short, they’re giving audiences exactly what they’re looking for in many ways.
Rating: R
Director: Tim Miller
Cast:
Ryan Reynolds
Morena Baccani
T.J. Miller
Ed Skrein
Gina Carano
Brianna Hildebrand
Film Length: 108 minutes
Release Date: February 12, 2016
Distributor: 20th Century Fox
