My Review of Deadpool
Deadpool is Directed by Tim Miller and stars Ryan Reynolds, Morena Baccarin andEd Skrein. The film follows Wade Wilson, Ryan Reynolds, an ex-military man who meets Vanessa, Morena Baccarin, and falls in love. Then one day Wade finds out that he has late stage cancer in basically all of his major organs. He then meets a man, who he hilariously addresses as Agent Smith, he claims that he can cure his cancer and make him a ‘superhero’. Finally, Wade agrees to go through this program so he can still be with Vanessa. This program puts him through horrific torture which shouldu awaken hidden mutant genes in him. These genes give Wade the ability to heal and it cures his cancer but there are side effects which makes him not very attractive anymore (and that’s an understatement). He then endeavours to hunt down the man who did this to him, Ajax, (Ed Skrein) and make him look normal again so he can go back to his Vanessa.
This film is funny. Really really really funny. They went out to make a funny film and they succeeded with flying colours. Ryan Reynolds was born to play this character and he is great in this film. You can tell a lot of this jokes were improvised which just shows what a funny guy he is. He also has some incredible chemistry with characters. Of course Him and Morena Baccarin have to have good chemistry for this entire film to work and they do, their relationship is very believable and you actually care about them getting together. Also the chemistry with TJ Miller, Weasel, is very good. Their back and forth is very funny and TJ Miller is also very good in the film individually and has a lot of the funniest lines. Even with Blind Al, his room-mate, there is little scenes with her but the few scenes there are they are amazing. The list goes on with the characters Wade interacts with and has remarkable chemistry with. Ajax, Colossus, Negasonic Teenage Warhead are the other ones that come to mind.
Speaking of Ajax, Ed Skrein is surprisingly good as the villain of the film. He recently starred in the new Transporter film, which was described by some people as the worst film of this decade. But in this film he is marvellous as Ajax. He is intimidating, cocky and is just pure evil. This is refreshing in superhero films as villains usually ‘need’ to have two sides to them and the audience must be able to relate to them but here he is just a vile human being with no remorse and I like it that way! Also the two Xmen characters that are used in the film are used spectacularly. I am not very familiar with the comic book character of Colossus but apparently this is the best representation of him there has ever been and I can tell this is true just because he is actually Russian in this film, unlike any other time he has been in an X-Men film. He is not exactly funny in this film but things that happen around him and the things that happen because of his presence are most probably the funniest scenes in the film. Also the cgi used for him is flawless, which is surprising considering the budget for this film. Negasonic Teenage Warhead is just awesome and brilliantly played by Brianna Hildebrand she is the young audience’s eyes for the film which is just so funny. For example, when Deadpool calls her Ripley from Alien 3 and she replies with “f**k your old” it is just brilliant.
That line is just one of the examples of how aware of its self this film is. It recognises that not all of its audience will understand that reference so it gives us a line that is not only is funny, it is something a typical person who doesn’t get that reference would say. Deadpool knows it’s faults and they I don’t real see them as faults because they address them. The writers knew that this film was going to have limitations from the start so with the ability of Deadpool breaking the fourth wall they used these limitations for their own gain and turned the into extremely funny scenes. Another aspect of this film that shows its awareness is the fact it knows when to get dark and gritty there are moments where you think if they say a joke right now up s probably going to ruin the scene and they hold off on the joke and do justice to the scene and the film by sticking with the serious tone.
A lot of the credit should go to the director of this film, Tim Miller. This is his directorial debut and what a debut. I mean talk about peaking late. This is a real accomplishment for him. The action scenes are incredibly well directed and I really enjoyed the over the top violence. I also applaud the structure they chose to use for the film all people have said that it messes with the pacing too much but it didn’t have that effect on me.
Both sets of credits in this film are amazing. The opening credits are incredibly clever and funny and starts the film off perfectly. And the closing credits are very juvenile but hilarious, which is just what Deadpool is about.
The film is exceptionally funny however, I don’t think that there was one part of the film that was funnier than any of the marketing that was put out. A lot of the jokes that were in the trailers were repeated in the film. Not that I wasn’t expecting thing but I thought after hearing all the comments about most of the comedy being improvised that maybe the jokes in the trailer would differ from the jokes in the film. I was laughing at things that I had already laughed at in the trailers. Also some of the comedy was very American so some of the jokes didn’t exactly hit for me. But this could not be helped as the film is American so it isn’t really a fault just a grievance really.
Although the fight scenes were very well executed and directed some of the cgi used for Deadpool looks a bit rubbery and fake but it’s what you can expect from this kind of budget. I would also have liked to see one more action scene just because they were so entertaining to watch.
The plot may just be a run of the mill love story but I think that this perfect for this film as I think this whole film is a commentary on the superhero genre. Poking fun at all of its clichés and problems. Using this kind of plot line was just another way to do this.
Another small issue I have with the film is that I would have liked to have seen some more universe building. What I mean is that this film is set in a time that we have never seen before, post Days of Future Past. I would’ve liked to see what the world is like now, why is there a random helicarrier looking thing in the middle of the city? Are the public aware of the Xmen? Are Mutants accepted? I know this is not strictly an Xmen film but it is in that universe so I would just like to have seen what the world looks like after the events of Days of Future Past.
Before I saw any marketing for this film I was excited but I wouldn’t have put it in my top anticipated films of 2016. But then I saw the marketing material from Reynolds and co, which is probably the best marketing campaign for any motion picture of all time. This leaked my interest, it was probably like sixth for my anticipated. The film blew all my expectations out of the water. I was expecting basically a new Kick Ass but this film is miles better than Kick Ass. I was expecting a funny but ultimately throwaway film. But what we got is an insanely funny, action packed, amazing directed and, surprisingly, an emotionally resonating film. I cannot wait for Deadpool 2 and also excited for the flurry of crappy overcorrection mature superhero films that studios will probably start to churn out. Wooohooo!
