Mini Review - Deadpool

Time for a series of mini reviews that may not make the light of day until September. Happy September if that is the case. But let’s talk about the Merc with the mouth, Deadpool. At time of writing, which is in November 2017, a teaser trailer for Deadpool 2 has just released, and it’s funny as hell.

That was weird… Anyway, Deadpool came out in 2016 to critical acclaim and box office success, giving Fox confidence to do more R-rated Marvel movies and a sequel to Deadpool. Here are my thoughts

Wade Wilson is a… he’s an asshole but when he finds out he’s dying of cancer he undergoes an experimental operation at the hands of ‘weapon x’ turning him into the lovable rogue we all know and love, Deadpool. Seeking to regain the looks of Ryan Reynolds, he seeks out the person responsible for his transformation, and will find him no matter how many he has to kill.

They use non-linear storytelling methods to show you an action scene fairly early on. And that action is exactly what you want to see from Deadpool. Violent, gory, full of fourth-wall jokes and one-liners and with Deadpool getting injured and barely noticing. Not some bullsh*t grab-bag of powers he had in Origins Wolverine

Speaking of origins, it’s probably where the biggest issues are. It’s fine, it’s serviceable but it also slows the movie to a crawl, not helped by the fact it’s inter-cut with the present-day action. I get it from a Deadpool 4^th wall standpoint since it allows them to get a 4^th wall break in early but it does make us want the origin to be over with so we can get back to Deadpool being awesome again.

But Deadpool isn’t alone in this movie, he has a number of co-stars. Since this is officially in the X-men universe, let’s add in some X-men, specifically 2 X-men, Colossus and Negasonic Teenage Warhead. Colossus is much improved over X-men 3 actually displaying some form of personality and is my favourite straight man to Deadpool’s shtick. Negasonic is a cliché moody teen, which the writers make fun of in the opening credits. She’s a powerhouse but they don’t use her that often for budget reasons.

To the human side we have Blind Al, Deadpool’s room-mate and drug addict, she’s funny in the couple of scenes she’s in; Weasel, played by TJ Miller, who is not playing an emoji in this movie, he’s funny on occasion and then there’s Dopiander, he’s got issues… I’m just gonna leave it at that. Oh and Vanessa, Deadpool’s love interest. She’s a bit tougher, full of pop culture references, she’s sleazy but takes no sh*t. I like her

Let’s talk about the humour. The humour is the strongest aspect of this movie, leaps and bounds over a lot of adult comedies. I’ve seen people critique the sheer number of jokes in this movie but that’s Deadpool, Deadpool should be funny in my opinion. The jokes land on almost every occasion.

The plot is probably the least essential aspect here, and it’s the least interesting. Deadpool seeks to get his face restored, so he’s killing everyone who’s even remotely associated with him to try and track him down. Much like the origin, it’s fine, it’s serviceable but it’s nothing worth writing home about. The main villains don’t get much screen time and as a result aren’t all that interesting to me.

But overall Deadpool is a great movie, and I hope the sequel lives up to it

Rating 85/100