I’m very late to the DEADPOOL (2016) party but finally caught it the other night at DisneyPlus. I heard a lot of raves about the film and found it largely lived up to the hype. The wisecracking is overplayed a bit, but overall, it nails its mission, which is to deliver a fast-paced superhero story for adults with plenty of action, fun, and just enough comedy.
Starring Ryan Reynolds (basically playing himself in a costume), the film is about a wisecracking hit man who undergoes an experimental treatment after being diagnosed with terminal cancer. The treatment works, basically making him immortal, though at the cost of being made ugly. Taking the name Deadpool, he goes on a tear to find the man who did this to him and restore his looks, so he can have the confidence to reconnect with his girlfriend.
The film is innovative in its genre for several reasons. With nudity, plenty of cussing, killing sprees, and an antihero superhero, it’s clearly a film for adults. Reynolds delivers charm and humor with his character, even if it’s laid on thick to the point of realizing if I knew this guy in real life, I’d be mentally exhausted in about ten minutes. The comedy goes everywhere, even breaking the fourth wall and making fun of the X-MEN movies–with Stan Lee doing one of his cameos, this one pretty funny. A few minor X-Men characters are pulled in to good effect.
One thing I’d like to call out is the love interest, played by Morena Baccarin. On the one hand, she’s a prostitute who’s hot, loves sex, and is a nerd, leading Reynolds to say at one point, “It’s like I created you with a computer,” which uh, yeah, some dude did. Still, she’s more well rounded and likeable than the typical movie Love Interest, who is usually fleshed out just enough to be a MacGuffin prompting the protagonist into action. This is in no small part due to Baccarin’s acting. I usually find her wooden, but she really pours it on and has fun with this role.
Overall, DEADPOOL is a really fun movie, a standout in the Marvel genre, and I’m hoping to catch the sequel when it becomes available on one of my streaming services.
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