Movie Review: Deadpool

There will be some spoilers ahead.

The Merc With A Mouth, Deadpool, gets his own movie. There’s a villain, a romantic interest, a cowardly best friend, two X-Men… and a story. The story of Deadpool is well known, and for the most part you will find little variations so let’s not focus on that because what you and I want to know is whether Ryan Reynolds can play the title character.

Yes, yes he can. Now, you can’t quite judge him for his interpretation as he’s the only one so far that has literally played Deadpool. However, his previous incarnation in X-Men Origins: Wolverine has nothing to do with this one. It will get a couple of references though. The movie is packed to the tights with DP’s wisecracks. You’d think that would get tiresome or annoying, but that’s the beautiful part of the film: it attempts to subvert the very genre it is deeply ingrained into. Wade Wilson has a weird sense of humor. It’s cool because he doesn’t care about being cool, but it’s never quite politically correct – albeit I have to say the writers did evade for the most part to offend anybody but themselves.

There’s a lot of stereotyping and typecasting in the film that is done with a wink and a smile. Yes, the driver of the taxi is Indian. His name is Dopinder. We learn that he’s in love and that his love prefers his cousin. He’s not quite a fully three dimensional character (after all, he seems to follow DP’s advice way too close) but he’s more than a two dimensional one with a history, a name and a re-appearance. Vanessa (yes, that is Copycat, no she doesn’t become her alter ego) comes in as the prostitute/stripper who falls for hitman Wade Wilson. Specially in the initial flashback we see she’s Wade’s wisecracking equal. We do get the stripper club scene, because I guess we have to have one but when we do Wade is looking for Vanessa so the lingering camera is kept to a minimum. Unfortunately, Vanessa does become the damsel in distress – but she does manage to free herself from her imprisonment.

My point is, the movie does seem to have taken the steps in the right direction regarding dialog and motive. DP is funny without trying to give current pop culture references but instead goes into the highly cookie territory even going into 80’s material. You will have to wait until the mid-credits to see what I mean.

It’s really well done, but it does require you to follow along a very dark comedy of a character that has been traumatized. Not that Wade is not somewhat of a snappy comeback kind of hitman to begin with. You also get a lot of dismemberment, which is surprisingly quick. You might not even notice the heads flying off in some scenes. The camera just keeps moving along, which is good because the movie does rely more on its dialog but the visuals have that level of violence that make this an R-rated film. It is smart? Not on its intent, but I’d dare say yes on its execution.

Highs/Lows:

Ryan Reynolds does redeem himself as Deadpool. He’s Wade Wilson, plain and simple.
The humor is Marvel but it’s also pop culture flavored, and from a few generations back making it appealing to adults. That’s a smart move considering this is a film meant for Deadpool fans who have been waiting for this film and are not kids anymore.
There’s this goddamn irreverence throughout the movie that feels politically incorrect but somehow is not aimed at anyone in particular.
I loved that the character of Dopinder gets more than one scene and has a bit of a background story, although he ends up following DP’s bad example.
The music is amazing and uncool and also amazing again. There’s lessons learn from Guardians of the Galaxy. Not as many lessons as filmmakers should be learning from Deadpool though. This is the way of subverting the genre and still making an action movie.
Yes, there’s a ton of Easter eggs.
You won’t get the 80’s joke in the mid-credits scene unless you’re an 80’s kid… Ok, ok it’s a Ferris Bueller reference.
I almost want them to avoid making a sequel… But you know, I’d go see it.