Deadpool (2016) Review

What are you doing reading this review? Go see Deadpool now! But I guess my readers are expecting me to elaborate more on why I think this movie is awesome.

Now, I'm not too familiar with the character of Deadpool. Before I started seeing more of him throughout the decade, I only knew him from X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Something tells me that fans of the character were not satisfied of how he turned out, especially when his mouth was sewn shut. I also never understood his popularity after seeing Deadpool merchandise from sweaters to even a video game centered around him.

I didn't have a lot of high hopes for the movie, but I was pleasantly surprised. Deadpool is one of my favorite movies of 2016. It is a nice change of pace from the superhero films we've been getting lately, lampooning the genre, while still being overall fun to watch.

In this film, Ryan Reynolds plays Wade Wilson who was a subject to an experiment that gave him a disfigured face and advanced healing powers. He wants revenge on a man named Francis Freeman, a.k.a. Ajax (played by Ed Skrein) who is responsible for making him the man he is now.

The film is many things, one being a revenge story. It is also an origin story, going from the present day, progressing the plot, before cutting back to the past, showing how Wilson becomes Deadpool. That means ignoring X-Men Origins: Wolverine, but I completely understand, since that's not a well-liked movie. The story is fairly straight-forward and easy to follow, especially for newer viewers like myself.

On top of all that, have I also mentioned that it is a love story? Wilson has a girlfriend named Vanessa, whom he eventually leaves in order to find a cure for his cancer, leading up to him becoming the Merc with a Mouth. I found myself getting invested in the romance. It doesn't feel too corny nor sappy, but it's pretty genuine. I think it's a great movie to see this Valentine's Day weekend, especially since one part of the marketing campaign advertised it as a romance movie, which is hilarious.

Ryan Reynolds is absolutely perfect as Deadpool. It's one of the best casting decisions in the X-Men series since Hugh Jackman as the Wolverine. He got the character down from his constant one-liners and swearing. He also takes the time to break the fourth-wall, interacting with the audience. It's because of this that the movie becomes self-aware of what it is, even taking brief jabs at some of Ryan Reynolds' previous roles (Green Lantern, anybody?). So, in other words, Ryan Reynolds is making fun of himself.

I also quite enjoyed the presence of Colossus and Negasonic Teenage Warhead, the latter whom I've never heard of until this movie. They both want Deadpool to join the good guys, but he wants no part of it. Colossus is the opposite of Deadpool, being an overall nice guy, whereas the latter is just a lovable jerk. Negasonic Teenage Warhead (awesome name) also has her moments, and when she is awesome on-screen, she is awesome on-screen. So why are there only two X-Men in this movie? Probably due to budget cuts, I guess.

There's the comedy, which was the most important part of anything Deadpool-related. If I could not laugh within the first ten minutes, then the movie is dead to me. Thankfully, I knew that I was in for it big time just by watching the hilarious opening credits, which I will not spoil here. There are violent scenes that ended up making me laugh outrageously. The black comedy was on the same level of Kick-Ass, another violent superhero movie that I like.

I hold a grudge against R-rated comedies because they add stuff to just push the R-rating rather than being genuinely funny. All that raunchy stuff is put in without doing anything with them. They also go to the point of being obnoxious just to get a desperate laugh out of someone, though that's today's comedies in general. This is why movies like Superbad, 21 (and 22) Jump Street and Spy failed, in my opinion, leaving me groaning and facepalming rather than laughing. I can already see the negative comments coming since people love those movies.

Deadpool is the opposite of what I hate about R-rated comedies. All the jokes hit the right marks. The stuff that was going to squick me out like this sex montage had me in stitches because the film actually does something funny and creative with it, rather than being all "Oh look, we're showing these two characters having sex. Are you laughing now?" The jokes are so well-timed and they never overstay their welcome or become tiring after a while. It's even better when I didn't see all the trailers, which I feared might have given away all its best jokes.

One thing about the jokes, though, is that perhaps some casual viewers may not get all of them. I'm a guy who prefers humor to be timeless; to be able to enjoy it many years from now without subsequent generations going all "Huh?" All the jokes about Ryan Reynolds and other pop culture references might make the movie feel a little dated and require research just to understand them. I don't know, we'll just have to see.

The action is also great and outrageously funny. Despite the movie having a lower budget than previous X-Men movies, it does whatever it can to be creative and delight the audience. Since it's an R-rated action movie, it does not pull any punches, showing blood and gore when Deadpool is killing some mooks. Anyone who is faint of heart, please don't watch this movie.

It also incorporates some great uses of slow-motion so that the audience can take in what is going on and maybe get a chuckle or two. Also, the film's climax is amazing, mixing the amount of over-the-top graphic violence and humor that just made it a good time to watch. Give props to director Tim Miller, since Deadpool marks his directorial debut after working on a lot of visual effects in movies.

So, yeah, I really loved Deadpool. It is one of the most unconventional comic book movies ever put on screen. It does not hold back from being offensive, being a giant middle finger to the politically correct culture, something that we really need at this time. It's a silly movie, and it knows that it's silly, so all it has to do is be great to watch.

Ryan Reynolds is great as the Merc with a Mouth, and all the other characters present in the movie are just as fun to watch. The action is over-the-top, cartoony, and graphic with its violence, which just adds to how unorthodox the movie is. I haven't laughed this hard in an R-rated comedy for a long time, making it one of the funniest movies I have ever seen. After some time thinking about it, I say Deadpool is...

SOMETHING WONDERFUL

You're still here? Go see it now, and make sure to stay after credits for something cool.