Teenage Negasonic Warhead and Deadpool, ready to kick some ass.
DEADPOOL (2016) is a blast. Pure and simple. Is like willful cinematic junk food binge, and like how such things invariably are, it’s a satisfying splurge. I think this movie may be the fullest realization of a comic book character onscreen, which is hilarious and raunchy and gory.
Big-time kudos to Marvel Studios for having the stones to run with this one the way they needed to. You know what you’re in for from the opening credits, with the kind of smirking self-referential stuff that few (if any) cinematic superhero stories will actually do (KICK-ASS being the only other one that comes reasonably close to it).
The story is simple and straightforward, and while the movie is more smartass than smart, it does what it sets out to do nearly perfectly.
Ryan Reynolds was born to play this role, and he runs with it in his fey Van Wilderchild sort of way. This is the kind of role that will forever define him as an actor, and he could easily crank out a number of sequels around this and the anarchic Deadpool character can handle it. Minor D&D geek aside: Deadpool is, without a doubt, a Chaotic Neutral character, with everything that this implies. He’s an antihero’s antihero, and the only way DC could even hope to compete with him cinematically would be if they brought out Lobo, which I don’t think they’ll ever have the stones to do.
Bringing some X-Men sidekicks in the form of Colossus (who gets some great moments, including some righteous fighting, which is long overdue) and Teenage Negasonic Warhead (played by Brianna Hildebrand with scene-stealing attitude) adds a nice Marvel continuity patina to the whole enterprise.
DEADPOOL is a much-needed shot in the arm for the endless superhero movies out there, in that it fuses action and hilarity and acknowledges the absurdity of it all, and they have a lot of fun with the whole thing. While it’s superhero fare, it’s most definitely NOT one for the kiddies — the degree of raunch in it is stunning for a superhero movie. They smartly don’t overdo Deadpool’s famed “Breaking the Fourth Wall” — although Reynolds delivers on that marvelously.
I can’t wait to get it on DVD, just to see what else they do with it. I don’t think there’ll be a cooler superhero movie out this year.
*d