The following is a review of Deadpool, a 20th Century Fox film.
This movie has been in development for over a decade. The character was almost scrapped completely due to X-Men Origins: Wolverine. The aforementioned Wolverine-movie drove Ryan Reynolds into the role of Hal Jordan in Green Lantern, which wasn’t a great superhero film either. Then something crazy happened. In mid-2014 test footage for a proposed Deadpool-film was leaked online. The fan reaction was insane, and it forced 20th Century Fox’s hands. Suddenly, Deadpool was a reality. And you know what? Somehow the end result is absolutely fantastic. It was worth the wait.
Deadpool follows Wade Wilson (played by Ryan Reynolds) a mercenary with a heart of gold and impeccable comedic timing. One day Wade met Vanessa (played by Morena Baccarin), and she turned out to be perfect for our wacky protagonist. But after proposing to his girlfriend, Wade passes out and he finds out that he has terminal cancer. As he is drowning out his sorrows at a bar, he is met by a man who promises powers and a cure – but the end result is much more grim and graphic than that description.
This review is fairly positive, but I can perfectly understand why you would dislike this film and the Deadpool-protagonist. The film, and it’s protagonist, is immature at times, crass, silly, vulgar, and violent. Deadpool isn’t for everyone. But it was exactly what I wanted it to be.
I am a huge fan of Ryan Reynolds. I’m still really surprised when people have bad things to say about him. I just find him incredibly likeable, funny, and engaging. Some of his best roles include ‘Berg’ from Two Guys, A Girl, and a Pizza Place, Van Wilder from National Lampoon’s Van Wilder, Paul Conroy from Buried, and Jerry Hickfang from The Voices.
Thankfully, Wade Wilson/Deadpool might be his best role yet, and he now finally has his iconic role locked down. Ryan Reynolds is Deadpool, I couldn’t think of a more perfect casting choice. It’s been said he was born for the role, and that couldn’t be more true. He just relaxes into this role so easily and so well, and it feels just right to have him do and say the stuff Deadpool does.
T.J. Miller, who played Deadpool’s friend Weasel, and Morena Baccarin were great in this film as well. I might’ve liked to see Miller a little bit more in this film, but Baccarin was used to perfection. The love story in Deadpool is a lot of fun, and Baccarin was just so perfect. I was worried about Colossus (played by Stefan Kapicic) and Blind Al (played by Leslie Uggarns) in this film, but they were used just right.
I didn’t really care for Negasonic Teenage Warhead (played by Brianna Hildebrand), but she wasn’t as integral to the film as I thought she might have been. The biggest surprise to me was Karan Soni, who plays the cab driver seen in one of the trailers. Dopinder (Karan Soni) was such a lovely little character, and I loved his scenes with ‘Mr Pool’.
Now this is where I get into some of the negatives of the film. Ed Skrein is a fine actor, I’ve got no problem with him as an actor. But his character, the villainous Ajax, was very stereotypical. The movie did point out that he was just another ‘British villain’, but that doesn’t really invalidate the flaw. Deadpool’s description of Ajax/Francis was much better than the character was.
This is just another origin story, which isn’t really a movie flaw, but only the structure of the film and its protagonist, helps the very introductory feeling of such stories. Similarly, I thought that the film’s plot was surprisingly thin. But, on the other hand, I was surprised to see the way in which the X-Men ‘interacted’ with Marvel’s naughty boy, Deadpool.
All in all, Deadpool was much better than I expected. It is one of the funniest films I’ve seen in a long time, and I was smiling from beginning to end. While the villain was somewhat stereotypical, the film managed to drive the plot forward with a greatly executed love story. It is immature, silly, violent, and vulgar – but it definitely is everything it should be.
9 out of 10
– I’m Jeffrey Rex
I'm Jeffrey Rex 