Deadpool

Deadpool is really funny. As a story, it gets by on a lot of witty one-liners. Hey they charmed this guy — a reviewer that doesn’t care about the comic book origins of a Marvel superhero. The comedy is obscene at times, but that’s not the part that lands. Mostly it’s the meta material that breaks the 4th wall, when it knowingly pokes fun at the idea that everything we’re watching is just fiction. Take the opening credits for example. It’s like the title sequence version of Screen Junkies’ “Honest Trailers”. The camera crawls through a frozen-in-mid-air car crash amid stopped bullets. Dismissive descriptions pop up as stand ins for names. The cast features “Hot Chick,” “Some Idiot,” “Moody Teen” and “British Villain.” I give it numerous points for making fun of itself, but I deduct a few for the fact that it actually succumbs to those stereotypes.

Deadpool was introduced as Wade Wilson in 2009’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine. That entry treated the personality like an afterthought. It even went so far as to sew his mouth shut at one point. That definitely isn’t the approach here, where the wisecracking individual seems like a totally different person. Deadpool makes offhand concessions to the same X-Men universe. A couple mutants even show up. They want to recruit Deadpool for a slot in the X-Men. Neither are the ones you were hoping for though. We get Colossus (an entirely CGI creation this time around) and Negasonic Teenage Warhead (Brianna Hildebrand). Wait, what, who? Sorry no clue, but then why only two of them? Well that’s all the budget could afford — or so says the script. That line is priceless so I’m not complaining. The takeaway, you don’t need to have seen any of the X-Men films to enjoy Deadpool. It stands on its own and it’s all the better for it.

You cast Ryan Reynolds for two reasons. His sarcastic, comedic delivery and his pretty boy good looks. The first strength is put to great use. Ryan Reynolds’ winking, snotty attitude is a delight and he delivers the consistently amusing screenplay with wit and aplomb. I admit that Robert Downey Jr. has already done the smart alecky shtick to perfection in Iron Man, but Reynolds takes the concept in a slightly new direction. The approach is not cutting edge, but still interesting. However the second attribute is where the movie gives the ultimate middle finger to the viewer.

The action is violent verging on sadism. At the lab, Wade is mercilessly tortured for months by a criminal named Ajax (Ed Skrein). The purpose ostensibly to unleash his powers of regeneration and cure his cancer. However Ajax definitely takes a perverse pleasure in the whole procedure. The process works but the treatment leaves Deadpool horribly disfigured. A face so bloodied and pulverized he dons a red mask and bodysuit to hide his appearance. It’s really gross to be quite honest. “You look like an avocado had sex with an older avocado” opines Wade’s best friend Weasel (TJ Miller). The unnecessary endurance test serves nothing other than to cater to the cruelest sensibilities of a maladjusted adolescent. The off-putting scene is a regrettable detour from the production’s mostly intelligent satire.

Too often Deadpool seems to rely on its gratuitous gore, nudity and language as if it’s inventing something new. This is business as usual for the most part. Anyone who has ever seen Blade, Kick-Ass or Dredd will be familiar with hard R-rated shenanigans in this usually family friendly genre. Of course there’s the knowing, self-aware aesthetic. It’s the humor that sells the film. Although even that doesn’t feel innovative. Heck even affable blokes like Zack Morris on Saved by the Bell or Ferris Bueller have famously addressed the audience directly. Incidentally, stay tuned for a cute after credits segment that satirizes that. This isn’t truly subversive in a way that redefines the genre, but the picture maintains an environment that is consistently hilarious. Deadpool undermines the business of making superhero movies just enough to be interesting and worthwhile.

02-11-16