Deadpool2016

Now that Deadpool & Wolverine is out and available to own (and I feel like the only one who hasn’t seen it yet), I wanted to do this series right and start at the beginning, with Deadpool.  Some may argue that if I want to start with the character’s on-screen beginning, I should go back to X-Men Origins: Wolverine, but…well, I wanted this version (and the less said about that other version the better).  So would the original give us an inkling as to why this guy is still so popular, or has the crossover into the Marvel universe the real reason for the big hoopla last year?

Ryan Reynolds, in most of his movies, is known for his witty repartee.  So, when X-Men Origins: Wolverine turned the “merc with a mouth” into a mute, fans were upset (to put it mildly).  Thankfully, Reynolds gets to unleash his mouth in Deadpool in a role he seems born to play.  Gleefully leaping into the role, Reynolds makes this guy so over-the-top it’s nuts – and it totally fits.  He alternates with laugh out loud patter and gross humor, but he’s firing them off so fast – and with so much obvious enjoyment – the viewer can’t help but be entertained.  The fact that he and love interest Morena Baccarin seem to have solid chemistry together doesn’t hurt either.

While the movie is mainly about him (and secondly, his relationship with Baccarin), Reynolds’ Deadpool manages to pull in an entertaining cast of characters around him.  Whether it’s watching him banter playfully with his roommate (Leslie Uggams), the bartender (T.J. Miller) or the cab driver (Karan Soni), toss barbs with X-Men pals Colossus and Negasonic Teenage Warhead (Hildebrand), or even face off against foes Gina Carano or Ed Skrein, it’s just fun to watch Deadpool do his thing.  Still, it’s a strong cast to even try to keep up with this guy when he’s running this hot.

As with most first films in a superhero series, this first Deadpool is an origin story.  The viewer gets to see him pre-hero, then finds out what causes him to become the man in red everybody knows.  It sets the film up with both a pretty solid reason to stick around, and a revenge shtick that the viewer can get behind. 

With such an emphasis on Ryan’s banter, however, Deadpool has an irreverence that it fully embraces.  From its opening sequence with crazy credits set to a easy listening song during the midst of a frozen scene from a massive gunfight to its ending sequence aboard what looks to be a destroyed S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier, the film manages to poke fun at pretty much everything in a typical superhero movie even while providing those same tropes to the audience with a wink and a nudge to the viewer.  It’s reminiscent of how Scream managed to poke fun at the slasher film even while turning into a pretty good slasher film itself. 

It helps that the Deadpool character has the ability to break the fourth wall, and uses it often, literally letting the viewer in on the joke.  The film uses to this well, keeping the viewer up-to-date with the story  even while giving them some solid doses of rude humor (and lots of awkward close-ups and camera stares).  The quizzical looks of the other cast members (who aren’t able to break the fourth wall) are just an extra bonus to the whole thing.

The special effects are top-notch in Deadpool.  Whether the hero is peering through the gunshot hole in his arm, slashing people to pieces with his swords, or watching Negasonic Teenage Warhead go, well, negasonic(?), the special effects never give the viewer pause.  That’s pretty impressive, as the film is chock full of a large amount of truly impressive effects. 

A superhero film that turns the superhero film upside down even while playing to all the tropes of the superhero film genre, Deadpool is Ryan Reynolds film through and through.  Everyone else plays second fiddle to him, but with good reason.  His new take on the beloved comic character manages to mix the sensibility of Scream with the violence of Kick-Ass (and some of the irreverence of Spaceballs) – and ends up being enormously entertaining.