In the Deadpool review, we take a look at the new movie starring Ryan Reynolds that crashes through the fourth wall and takes superhero movies to a brand new and very enjoyable place…
By Damon Martin — Editor/Lead Writer
It’s not always easy for Hollywood to adapt a comic book for the big screen and make it work well enough where fan boy nation isn’t ready to erupt and riot.
For all the ways that 2011’s Green Lantern landed Ryan Reynolds in the dog house with those fans, Deadpool — which lands in theaters nationwide on Friday, Feb 12 — not only absolves him of any past wrong doing, but it puts him in the hierarchy of the most well executed adaptations in history.
Reynolds fought tooth and nail to get the Deadpool movie made, but he got it made the right way. For all the accolades that are showered upon Marvel for an incredible cinematic universe and the praise heaped on Christopher Nolan for the definitive Dark Knight, Reynolds deserves a pat on the back and a permanent entry into the nerd hall of fame for his efforts to get Deadpool and get it right.
Deadpool is an ‘R’ rated comic book movie, which is virtually non-existent outside of Watchmen (which is an underrated classic that didn’t do very well in theaters) and there’s no other way this film could have been made and still had the same impact as what moviegoers will have the opportunity to witness starting this week.
From the blood soaked bullet holes to the copious usage of the word ‘fuck’, Deadpool is packed full of irreverent humor, bad language and ultimately becomes one of the best movie going experiences thus far in 2016.
Plot
Deadpool follows the story of a mercenary for hire named Wade Wilson, who leads a fairly normal life getting paid to either kill or kick the shit out of unsuspecting victims, but his life is thrown upside down after meeting a woman named Vanessa, who is his equal in every way right down to her bite being just as deadly as her bark.
But for the happy existence that Wade and Vanessa put together, it all comes crumbling down when he is diagnosed with terminal cancer and the options for living seem to get slimmer by the day. So Wade ends up getting involved with a shadowy organization, who promises to cure his cancer while giving him extraordinary abilities. Kind of like the Weapon X program responsible for Wolverine.
Needless to say, Wade’s transformation goes horribly awry and in the process his face gets disfigured, he’s tortured for weeks on end and when he finally escapes the only thing on his mind is bloody revenge.
Of course, Wade’s mission of revenge runs into an obstacle known as The X-Men, who want to recruit him into their mutant organization but find that his foul language and tendency to kill people go against their typical superhero bi-laws.
Acting
Ryan Reynolds is probably the first person to tell you that Green Lantern was a steaming pile of horse dung, but while his attempt to bring Hal Jordan to life failed miserably, there couldn’t have been a more perfect choice to play Wade Wilson aka Deadpool in this movie.
Reynolds has a sarcastic timing that is unmatched in Hollywood. He showed it off when he got a role in Blade Trinity, and while that movie isn’t exactly beloved, Reynolds put forth his best Deadpool like effort in that particular film. Reynolds has spot on comedic timing, which isn’t easy to pull off in a superhero movie, but his ability to use that like a dagger time after time in Deadpool is just one of many reasons why this film is fantastic.
While Reynolds really steals the show — to the point where his performance should garner awards nominations because it really is that good — the rest of the cast supports him beautifully.
If TJ Miller and Ryan Reynolds aren’t best friends in real life then the performance they put together in Deadpool is just incredibly uncanny. The two of them play off each other throughout the movie so well that you’d just imagine that there was no script and instead the director just said ‘go’ and these two went.
Morena Baccarin plays Deadpool’s girlfriend Vanessa and while she’s got the damsel in distress look down pat, she’s anything but a helpless victim in this movie. Baccarin commands a presence on screen and she takes it up a notch or two with a little bit of punk rock attitude in this movie.
And the villains — played primarily by Ed Skrein (the original Daario Naharis from Game of Thrones) and former MMA fighter Gina Carano — are a great one-two combo coming back at Deadpool and friends. Skrein has a smirk that could be dashing or dastardly and Carano’s physicality is virtually unmatched by anyone else in this movie. She’s an action star who can give a punch and still look good doing it.
Directing and Writing
Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick are responsible for the script and there simply could not have been a better adaptation from comic to screen than what these two guys did with Deadpool. To be completely honest, Deadpool wasn’t a character I clamored to read from month to month when picking up my comic book stash, but hearing his snarky lines come to life while being spoken by Ryan Reynolds as me rethinking that decision.
The story isn’t exactly ground breaking, but then again it’s the first entry into what will hopefully be a multi-film run for Deadpool so it’s a great introduction to the character, his origins and eventually his motivations for doing what he does.
Director Tim Miller worked with a budget that was about 10 times less than the average comic book movie and there’s not a single second in this film where he makes you feel like you’re watching anything less than a $200 million blockbuster.
What’s Wrong with the Movie?
There’s not much to say against Deadpool but if there’s some kind of forced criticism it’s this — the movie had to work so hard to get viewers into the theater that the multitude of trailers released gave a little bit too much of the film away.
Now it’s not to say there’s not plenty more to see — because there is — but trailers have started to give away more and more these days and Deadpool is a victim of some of the best lines already said in the two minute previews we’ve been watching for the past year.
And if there was one other complaint it’s only the worry that when Deadpool becomes a hit — and all signs are pointing towards a big opening weekend — that the character will eventually get pulled into one of the upcoming X-Men movies where his crass language and no holds barred way of dealing with bad guys will ultimately get censored. Here’s hoping that the folks behind X-Men, who will inevitably attempt to employ the character in the future, will save every possible ‘fuck’ that’s given to them before a PG-13 turns into an ‘R’ and hand them directly to Wade Wilson.
Outside of those minor issues, Deadpool really does put it all together in a great way from start to finish.
Final Verdict
Listen, Deadpool is not the typical superhero movie that you’re going to take your kids to see — unless you want them dropping ‘F’ bombs over cereal the next morning — but if you want to laugh your ass off thanks to comedy dialogue that’s on par with the best funny movies of the past five years while also watching mind blowing comic book style action, Deadpool is the movie for you.
Deadpool gets five out of five on the Skolnick Scale
