Unknown until this year to most casual comic fans, “Deadpool” is a character who pops up randomly throughout the Marvel universe. He is a professional assassin with regenerative abilities and a fondness for shooting his mouth off. After a decade of the film being postponed, it is finally in theaters.
Starring Ryan Reynolds as the title character, Deadpool is directed by Tim Miller in his feature film debut, and written by Zombieland writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick.
Reynolds starts off as “Wade Wilson,” a smart-mouthed mercenary living a good life with his girlfriend “Vanessa”–played by Morena Baccarin–and his best friend “Weasel,” played by the consistently hilarious TJ Miller. After a terminal cancer diagnosis and a subsequent experimental drug test that goes wrong, Wilson becomes “Deadpool” and seeks revenge on the person who turned him into what he is.
There was great debate on whether or not to release Deadpool as a PG-13 film like other Marvel films, or a hard R rating in keeping with the source material. Fans and Reynolds himself, who championed the film for years while serving as one of its producers, insisted on keeping it R and ultimately got their wish.
This allows the film to not worry about offending anyone, but at times it seems to be vulgar just because it can be, as the R-rated content is often shoved in your face. That being said, it works most of the time and makes for a fun and exciting film.
The driving force of this movie is definitely the humor. The jokes are so rapid fire that even if you only find half of them amusing, you’ll still spend most of the film laughing. The plot is pretty formulaic, which “Deadpool” even points out himself, but the movie is intended to work like a parody of comic book films. Everything is over the top.
Reynolds is a natural fit for the “Merc with a Mouth” character and delivers even the most ridiculous lines naturally, while Baccarin and Miller provide excellent support.
This film isn’t for everyone and won’t ever be described as sophisticated, but it succeeds in exactly what it sets out to do. It gives audiences a fresh, filthy and most of all funny new spin on superhero movies.
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