Deadpool is as subversive and unconventional as you can get for a superhero movie, especially coming from Fox and Marvel. As the titular character says, “You’re probably thinking, ‘This is a superhero movie, but that guy in the suit just turned that other guy into a fucking kebab.’ Surprise, this is a different kind of superhero story.”’
Deadpool is hilarious. You’d think the relentlessly juvenile dick jokes would lose their laugh factor after two hours, but thanks in part to Ryan Reynolds’ delivery, they don’t.
The entire premise stands out among Hollywood’s constant and relentless stream of superhero movie releases.
Ryan Reynolds’ Wade Wilson—Deadpool—is not a noble character acting for the greater good of humanity or to champion a cause. He’s a mercenary who agreed to be experimented on to cure himself of cancer. He wound up physically disfigured, and went on a vengeful killing spree in search of the man who did it to him. He wanted to be “fixed” so he could go home to face his girlfriend because his vanity won’t let him face her otherwise. Yet that selfishness is what makes him so relatable to audiences.
A couple of the film’s jokes can veer off into uncomfortable territory, but oftentimes Wade is delivering them and making a joke of his own past trauma and that’s why they work. As cheesy as it sounds, we’re not laughing at him—we’re laughing with him.
The plethora of intentional and gleeful fourth wall breaks, self-referential jokes, and pop culture references also amp up the film’s fast and snappy dialogue.
The rest of the characters and their corresponding cast members do an excellent job as well. Brianna Hildebrand’s Negasonic Teenage Warhead—one of the film’s two X-Men—is a bundle of broody hilarity, and her reactions make many of the scenes she’s in. Morena Baccarin also holds her own as Wade’s girlfriend, Vanessa Carlysle.
Deadpool makes good use of its R rating. The movie contains more nudity, sexual scenes, swearing, and just plain gory fight scenes than any of its predecessors. It’ll be interesting to see if and how Fox and Marvel try to reincorporate him into their plethora of PG-13 films.
The only real problem in the movie is the final fight scene. It gets a bit too big for the film and its giant, wide shots of destruction and collapsing infrastructure are more reminiscent of an Avengers film than a film that makes fun of the entire superhero genre.
All in all, Deadpool is definitely worth watching, if for nothing else but its post-credits scene alone.
