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Rating
Synopsis
The plot revolves around Wade Wilson (Reynolds), a mercenary who goes after all kinds of scum and dirtbags, even though he is not a good guy. One night, he meets a prostitute named Vanessa (Morena Baccarin), and the two instantly hit it off. They fall in love, have an entire montage where they have sex-themed around various holidays (including International Women’s Day), and Wade even proposes to her. Things seem to be going well until Wade collapses to the floor and finds out he’s been diagnosed with terminal cancer. With all hope seeming lost, Wilson gets an offer from a shady man in a business suit promising a cure for his cancer and a chance at becoming a superhero. Unfortunately, Wade has few options, so he leaves Vanessa and goes to what he thinks will be his salvation. However, things aren’t what he thought they were, as he’s taken to a facility run by Ajax (Ed Skrein), who instantly hates Wade and finds his sense of humor annoying. Wade’s given an injection that will awaken any dormant mutant genes in his system, but it only works after he’s undergone a massive amount of stress. This leads to a montage where Wade is subjected to all kinds of horrible torture, but even with these awful conditions, Wade still has his sense of humor and constantly gets on Ajax’s nerves, especially when Wade learns that his real name is Francis. This pushes Ajax/Francis to put Wade in a deprivation tank that cuts off oxygen to the point where the victim is on the urge to suffocate. While this does awaken Wade’s mutant gene, a healing factor that cures his cancer and makes him near invincible, he is left scarred. If that weren’t bad enough, he finds out that he’s going to be sold off to the highest bidder as a super-powered slave. Wade manages to escape after burning down the facility, but Francis gets away after telling him that he can cure Wade’s disfigurement. After trying to reconnect with Vanessa but fearing how she would react to seeing him, he confides in his friend Weasel (TJ Miller), and the two create Wade’s alter-ego, Deadpool. DP then sets out to get revenge on Francis, get him to cure his scarring, and get Vanessa back.
Review
What largely makes this movie work is Ryan Reynolds’ performance as Deadpool. His comedic timing is on-point, and he exudes charisma and charm. He also has great chemistry with Baccarin to the point where you buy them as a loving couple, and you get why he’s so determined to get her back. Ed Skrein also shines as Ajax/Francis, playing such a loathsome villain that you love to hate him, and you’re just waiting for him to get his comeuppance. Along the way, DP runs into two of the X-Men, the gigantic Colossus, played by Andre Tricoteux and voiced by Stefan Kapicic, and the new recruit Negasonic Teenage Warhead, played by Brianna Hildebrand. The two of them make a great pair, Colossus being the moral center and an even bigger boy scout than Superman, and NTW acting as a snarky and cynical teenager who rolls her eyes at Deadpool’s jokes and constantly mocks him. Also in the mix is Blind Al, played by Leslie Uggams, who is a lot of fun as a bitter, old black lady who more-or-less acts as Wade’s caretaker and throws insults back and forth with DP. Tim Miller’s direction is well done as he stages these huge action sequences, and the camera pulls back enough for you to see what’s happening. He does a good job balancing the action, comedy, and drama. The writing is also on-point, with tons of great referential humor, especially all the numerous digs at X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and crude, intelligently written humor, as contradictory as that sounds. The movie is just a blast from beginning to end, with tons of great action sequences and gags that you’ll be quoting for a while.
If I have any issues with the film, the plot isn’t necessarily bad, but it is somewhat cliche and simple. Granted, the simplicity does work for the movie it is, but there isn’t anything to write home about with the plot. Also, some of the CGI sticks out pretty badly, especially in scenes where you can tell that it’s not Reynolds on-screen. Even still, the work on Colossus does look impressive, to where you buy him as a fully three-dimensional character. In addition, while most of the humor is on point, some of it doesn’t quite land, but those jokes are few and far between. At the end of the day, Deadpool is still an insanely entertaining movie. It’s violent and crude, pokes fun at many modern-day superhero movie tropes, and reminds people that a superhero/comic book movie can be R-rated. We’ve had plenty of those in the past, such as Blade and Watchmen, but in this day and age where PG-13 movies are the norm, Deadpool was a breath of fresh air. Especially with the sequel coming out around the time this review was written, now is a great time to revisit this movie.
Suck on it, Wolverine!
Buy Deadpool from Amazon: https://amzn.to/3LjPz7H.
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