- Written by Rhett Reese and Pau Wernick
- Directed by Tim Miller
- Starring Ryan Reynolds, T.J. Miller, Ed Skrein, Morena Baccarin, Stefan Kapicic and Brianna Hildebrand
‘Dead pool’ is in cinemas worldwide now!
A former Special Forces operative turned mercenary is subjected to a rogue experiment that leaves him with accelerated healing powers, adopting the alter ego Deadpool.
‘Deadpool’ was always going to be a film that would divide critics and comic book movie fans alike. Many championed the R-rating that the film has in the US, here in the UK it only seems to equate to a 15 rating, where others felt that Wade Wilson was a character they wanted to be able to introduce their kids to through the film.
I can’t claim to have read any ‘Deadpool’ comics however I was well aware of how characters felt his appearance ‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’ was so far from the comics that he could have paired himself up with Halle Berry’s ‘Catwoman’.
The ‘Deadpool’ of 2016 is definitely a crowd pleasure if the audience I was sat with were any example of a typical audience. The film is definitely built to appeal to a young, predominantly male audience given the lack of focus on its lead actors physique. Typically any 18/R-rated movie featuring this many genitalia jokes, beheadings and all out violence is definitely not aimed at the rom-com crowd but I was pleased to see that the female audience members enjoyed the film just as much.
What shines through the most about ‘Deadpool’ is the simplicity of its story. Essentially this is an origin story but it’s wrapped up as flashbacks within a very simple kidnap and rescue. There’s very little to overcomplicate the narrative and that works incredibly well here.
Marvel films – the ones they make not the ones they license out to others – have come under scrutiny this week for their simplicity but in this instance what 20th Century Fox have done is create a genuine anti-hero that jumps straight off the page of the comics without compromising on any of what makes the character who he is.
Reynolds clearly has devoted himself to the character, his Producer credit proudly confirming to any doubters, and that shines through in his performance. The film is in fact so meta that it goes as far as to comment on Ryan Reynolds own acting abilities. His performance carries the film in a way that I don’t feel we’ve seen in a Marvel product for some time, possibly since Hugh Jackman first put on the Wolverine claws.
The rest of the ensemble cast compliment Wade Wilson well, the standouts for me were Morena Baccarin, veering off from playing Lee in ‘Gotham’ to become a damsel in distress who’s less distressed by her kidnapping and more by her situation with Wade, and T.J. Miller who is a great comic foil to Reynolds.
Villain Ajax, played by Ed Skrein, is fairly generic. He doesn’t raise the threat level of the film beyond minor but it plays in well to the overall simplicity and is by no means a comment on his acting abilities.
There are ties to the ‘X-Men’ franchise which I won’t go in to too far but appearances by Colossus and Negasonic Teenage Warhead are a little unnecessary and I expected far more from them given the promo time devoted to their inclusion.
The film is impressively slick for it’s rumoured $50million budget, a fact that will only make the heads of the studio even more happy that is has made over $300million worldwide in it’s opening weekend at the box office.
If pushed I would say the film is a little overloaded with genitalia references but it’s made up for by the excellent meta jokes and the sprinkling of fourth wall breaking which could easily have dragged the film down but do not. The score is easily forgettable but the inclusion of pop culture tracks like ‘Careless Whisper’ and ‘Angel of the Morning’ lift the soundtrack out of the doldrums.
There will undoubtedly be a ‘Deadpool 2’ already in the works, my hopes for that film are that the budget doesn’t become overly inflated but allowed the character to interact more with the ‘X-Men’ world in which he resides. There’s a great meta joke in the film around the lack of budget available to have more of the X-crew appear.
4 stars
Checkout red band trailer 2 for ‘Deadpool’ below and sound off in the comments with your thoughts!
