How awesome is the Deadpool movie? Totally Awesome!!!
Read on for my review…
So I saw Deadpool last night and I have to say I was pleasantly surprise, dare I say even relieved. Way back when it was revealed that Ryan Reynolds would play Deadpool in the Wolverine Origins movie my first thought was ‘this is perfect casting’. Sometimes Hollywood missteps casting the wrong actor for the wrong part (hello: Ryan Reynolds as Hal Jordan Green Lantern). But this news was perfect…. And then we got the actual movie, which for the most part was garbage. Reynold’s Deadpool from the first half was spot on: an annoying wisecracking motor mouth with swords. Then they decided to not only give him sword arms and other powers, but they also sowed his mouth shut. That is not Deadpool. Not in the slightest.
Oh the fan backlash…
I can imagine Fox’s trepidation at bringing the character back to the screen for a second attempt after the lukewarm to downright nasty response to the first attempt. But think about how awesome and unique a thing this is: Ryan Reynolds played a good Wade Wilson in a bad movie and got a second chance. Brandon Routh played a good Superman in a bad movie, and has languished ever since.
Back to Fox. Their trepidation kept the Deadpool movie in development hell for 11 to 12 years before it was greenlit, then another 3 years to make and market the film. This was due in large part to the ‘leaked’ footage. A few years back some test footage was shot then leaked online and the internet exploded (as it is want to do). Fans of Deadpool shouted from their internet dungeons “MAKE THIS MOVIE!!! IT’S SO MUCH BETTER THAN THAT CRAP FROM WOLVERINE!!!!” And for perhaps the first time ever, the Big Studio listened. It was announced we were gonna get a Real Deadpool movie, and staring Ryan Reynolds.
With one hurdle passed, now fans had to worry about what kind of Deadpool movie we’d get. Up till this point we’d only had a handful of R rated comic book movies and most of them were lesser known properties like Blade, V for Vendetta and 300. Also keep in mind with this being a character from the X-men universe, fans half expected to see a neutered version of the Merc with a Mouth much like Wolverine. Would I have been fine with a PG-13 Deadpool? I think it’s possible to make do with what’s you’ve got and still put out a product that fans can enjoy. But in reality, to capture what makes Deadpool, well Deadpool, he had to be rated R.
The studio flirted with a PG-13 version (as was once announced and now confirmed with all the interviews circulating), a script was written but it just didn’t work as well. And so the R rating was granted. Not only did the fans breathe a sigh of relief, Ryan, the writers and the director could stretch themselves and go all out bringing deadpool from page to screen.
So the movie is made, the rating secured and everyone involved says fans will be pleased. I’ve heard that song and dance before (um, F4ntastic?). Come on Hollywood, you’re in this business to make money. With the exception of a colorful few instances (Spectre and Antman come to mind), almost every actor and director will peddle their crap as the best movie on earth until after we’ve paid for it. Then they start to apologize… So I went to the theater pretty skeptical.
Also, I’m not a big fan of Deadpool. I get the humor and I understand how he is as popular as he is, but lately he’s become hyped and over exposed (much like my pointy eared favorite over at Warner Brothers/DC). Because of his sophomoric tendency towards potty humor and site gags, this could very easily become a situation were too much of a thing turns bad. This is my mindset: I can only handle Deadpool in small doses and the movie is probably going to be more than I’m prepared to deal with.
And then the opening sequence starts.
Right from the beginning the movie pokes fun at itself by instead of listing the primary players by name, they used lines like ‘Starring: god’s perfect idiot’,’a British bad guy’ and ‘directed by: a total tool’. This was paired with perfect images for the opening sequence to highlight and drive home the tone of this film right away.
Deadpool is raunchy and dark and violent and funny wrapped around a warm gooey center. Someone else wrote in their review that this movie has heart and I couldn’t agree more. The writers and director all towed the line perfectly giving us enough, but not too much and pulling back from the humor to add a twist of love story. Reynolds couldn’t have been more on his game, playing a character he clearly loves. His portrayal was pitch perfect. The supporting ensemble holds their own just as well with Reynold’s kookiness and dishes as well as they receive. In a two words, this movie is perfectly balanced. Almost. It sagged a little in the middle for me personally but thankfully it didn’t take took long picking itself up again.
Look out for nods, winks and easter eggs as they’re peppered all throughout this movie. And be sure to stay through the end for the end credits scenes (plural). This movie has heart, not just in it’s story, but also in the care given to get us the best possible Deadpool movie we could ask for.
Go see this movie and then tell me what you think. I’d love to hear what you though about the film in the comments below.
GK