Advance Review: Deadpool (2016)

I’m staring at my computer screen, and I’m honestly having a hard time coming up with something to write about Deadpool besides, “Go see it. Go see it right now if you can, and soon as humanly possible if you can’t go right this second.” You know how when you go see a movie based on a book or comic book there’s always that one guy walking out of the theater going, “This was wrong. And this was wrong. This aspect of the character wasn’t right. This part of the story telling was wrong. Etc, etc, etc?” That guy did not come out of this movie. I know, I looked for him everywhere. All I heard was a chorus of, “That was awesome! That was hilarious! I can’t wait to see it again!” And I couldn’t agree with those sentiments more.

Let me start by saying, I’m not a Deadpool expert, nor am I a comic or Marvel expert. I don’t know all the ins and outs of the character other than a few comics I’ve read. I do know enough to know that X-Men Origins: Wolverine got it horribly wrong. The Deadpool of this movie; however, is profane, hilarious, and gregariously violent. Deadpool will have you laughing as soon as the opening credits start and announce that the film is being a directed by, “An Overpaid Douche,” and you will continue to laugh straight to the end. The jokes are rapid-fire, and while they are profanity-ridden and raunchy, they’re also (mostly) intelligent. Many of the jokes make fun of the movie itself, which is made easy by the fact that the fourth wall is completely broken in this movie. Deadpool frequently talks to the audience and makes fun of his own film as well as other Marvel films, at one point pointing out that there are actually breaking, “like 16 walls.”

The story itself is honestly fairly by the book—boy meets girl, boy gets cancer, boy is tortured in a super sketch government experiment, boy’s mutant genes are unlocked and he becomes horribly disfigured but with accelerated healing and super powers, boy wants revenge on man who tortured him, and boy must rescue girl. It follows a pretty typical story-telling path, but the quick humor and non-stop action will have you so entertained you won’t notice anything else. Morena Baccarin keeps up well with Ryan Reynolds as Wade’s snarky, equally profane, and humorous other half Vanessa. They play off each other very well, and make a perfect dysfunctional but sweet couple. Ed Skrein as Ajax serves his purpose and gives Deadpool a reason to seek revenge. Although he’s a little overshadowed by how incredible Reynolds is as Wade, and comes off as more of supervillain’s underling than a supervillain himself. The characters of T.J. Miller as Weasel, Stefan Kapicic as Colossus, Brianna Hildebrand as Negasonic Teenage Warhead are all solid characters with laughs of their own; and Gina Carano serves as a pretty badass Angel Dust for the villain team.

I went to this movie anticipating that I would laugh and have a good time, and I definitely accomplished that. It is not family friendly, it is not your typical superhero movie, which is exactly why Deadpool fans will want to go watch it. I will definitely be going to see it again so I can catch all the jokes I laughed through the first time!