THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
Heroes are not perfect and if you think the opposite, take a good look at Deadpool.
PLOT
The film follows discharged special forces operative turned mercenary Wade Wilson. He falls for a prostitute named Vanessa, resulting a romantic relationship and after a year of dating, he proposes to her in which she accepts. Their happiness appears to reach an end when he is diagnosed with terminal cancer. Rather than going through chemotherapy, he leaves her without warning and goes through illegal experimentation in hopes to be cured. The experimentation is more vile than anticipated, thanks to relentless work from scientist Francis aka Ajax who suppresses pain and his assistant Angel Dust, who has super strength. Overtime, Wade’s mutation is triggered and the ability of advanced healing counteracts the cancer, at the cost of him looking severely disfigured. When Wade breaks free from the hypobaric chamber that damaged his appearance, he destroys the laboratory in hopes to kill Francis, but he convinces him that he can undo the damage, before leaving him for dead. He does survive the destruction he caused and on his own again, he tends to reunite with Vanessa but is worried she won’t accept him for how he looks. When consulting with a close friend named Weasel, he plans to hunt down Francis in hopes to get him to do what he claims he can. He dons the vigilante persona ‘Deadpool’ after the titular game to predict someone’s death. He also moves with an elderly blind woman named Al as he continues to hunt down his tormentor. When he narrows down where he is, he kills his convoy of armed men near an expressway. Before he could have him for himself, he is stopped by two members of the X-Men, Colossus whose skin can turn to metal and Negasonic Teenage Warhead who can generate explosions from her body. When Colossus tries to recruit him, Francis escapes. The X-Man still chooses to apprehend Deadpool in hopes to convince Professor Xavier to recruit him, but the merc with the mouth chooses to flee by severing his hand from the handcuff, knowing it’ll grow back. With Francis knowing that Wade is still alive, he intends to lure him out in order to finish him for good. When scouting Weasel’s bar, where Wade was first recruited, Angel Dust finds a picture of him with Vanessa. They later track her down to a strip club she works and kidnap her before Wade could reunite with her. When he discovers what happened, they challenge him to meet at a decommissioned helicarrier in a scrapyard. With help of Colosssus and NTW, he is able to wipe out the remainder of Ajax’s private army. While the two X-Men take on Angel Dust, Deadpool gets his chance to fight his tormentor and save the woman he loves. Once Angel Dust is incapacitated. Wade overpowers his rival demands and demands his disfigurement to be reversed. Despite Colossus’ plea, he kills him once he admits to have lied. He is then able to reconcile with Vanessa, who still loves him and accepts his new appearance. The film ends in a post credit scene showing Deadpool share with the audience that the character Cable will appear in the sequel.
THOUGHTS
As a common fan of Marvel Comics, I knew it would be great to see this character onscreen but as a moviegoer, I knew it would be challenging to see him live up to his R rated persona, due to how the main audience for the superhero genre is regularly PG-13 and under. However, I respect that 20th Century (Fox) Studios understood that audiences grew up and deserve to see a mature depiction of a superhero. With that being said, it made me even more glad on how much I enjoyed it in theaters. Director Tim Miller delivers on making something that was naturally funny with its style of comedy. Whether or not you get all of the gags, you're still gonna be laughing at the ones that hit the mark. To me, each one got me laughing non stop. And even the dip of action sequences we got in between are cool to see. Particularly, the opening highway scene is the well edited as you see everything at once and are quickly invested. Oddly enough, this film has stuck with me lately because I felt the morals to enjoy the short life while you can, always be your most authentic self and never let go of your good heart. I felt all of this through the titular lead. Ryan Reynolds earns his place as a national treasure in his most hilarious lead performance, that only antes up when you get to the sequel. I loved it every time he dissed himself because even he can admit he made bad career choices with X-Men Origins: Wolverine and Green Lantern. He may speak/act inappropriate throughout, but in between each hilarious fourth wall break, he is able to leave a good impression because he genuinely cares for those around him. He wouldn't be dealing with stalkers if he didn't care. He chose to leave Vanessa after his diagnosis and went through the torture because he did not want to feel like a burden to her as he was dying. Seeing him remain talkative throughout the torture makes you admire him because it showed how much of a will he had, considering that he's been through hell in the rocky life he had before joining special forces. He does not hold it back when taking action because he doesn't really need to as he knows this is his true self and he accepts it. Considering that he still gets the girl after no longer appearing as attractive as he was in first glance only proves that loving someone only matters for who they are within. Although Reynolds steals every scene he is in, the array of supporting characters leave good impressions as well. I really adored Morena Baccarin as Vaness because behind the seduction, she is a tough woman who is loyal to the only man she loves. The two easily connected so well due to relating to harsh upbringings and look behind that. Again, her loyalty is so essential because it shows how powerful love is. In his given screen time, TJ Miller was hella funny for Wade's not so best friend. He can be resourceful, but doesn't always back it up afterwards. He'll give him arsenal, but not join the action because he's that lazy. You gotta admit it was funny to see him roast Wade's new appearance because those were only partial deep thoughts we had when first looking at him. Leslie Uggams was able to make a standout presence as Blind Al for making her express a bizarre perspective and acts as cynical as possible, hence having a decent friendship with Wade. Karan Soni was so fucking adorable for making Dopinder the most gullible and insecure in this movie. He is clearly someone who didn't have a place in the world around him and luckily, he found that when he met Deadpool in the oddest of circumstances, being his cabbie. While he doesn't make the best decisions in comparison to what he does in the sequel, you can't help but root for him figuring himself out. Since this movie is a spinoff to the X-Men franchise, we had to expect a few familiar faces the studio could afford and oddly, they made good choices out of Colossus and NTW. From the voice alone, Stefan Kapicic perfects the metal X-Man by portraying him as virtuous as he can be. The best of the visual effects are on him as he is incredibly and accurately tall as depicted in the comics. He is easily a good friend to Deadpool for trying to teach him things in a new lens, hence always trying to recruit him. He helps him save Vanessa because he sees how big his heart is that would make him a good member of the team. Brianna Hildebrand also leaves a good impression for making NTW the polar opposite of Deadpool, snarky yet antisocial and unmotivated. She joined the X-Men because this is her way to find herself and after helping the merc, she saw how courageous she can be, which defends why she puts up with chaos around her. Of course with a hero so wild, you need a villain as vile and I think you get that through Ajax. Throughout, I think Ed Skrein was dead on sadistic and manipulative, it felt far from cliched. He is a guy that went through his own set of pain and since he became painless in the long run, he enjoyed letting others feel the same pain he felt, which explains why he continues the operations. And Gina Carano left her mark for making Angel Dust just as menacing. They get along so well because they both enjoy the pain they inflict. With her apprehended by Colossus and Francis killed by Deadpool, you can bet that New York will feel a little safer without those scums roaming around. Although this movie is fun from beginning from beginning to end, it still had its moments that make itch my head when thinking about it. Like for instance, why would Deadpool leave his walkman behind when handling business in the opening? Sure it's not worth damaging during the conflict he ensues, but he should've not brought it if he wasn't gonna go back for it. And how did the chandelier jeans guy Gavin (Kyle Cassie) not notice Wade in his apartment before Jeremy (Style Dayne) arrived with the pizza? It looked like he was ready go out, so that is crazy for him to not walk into the bathroom. It may have been fun for him confront him during working hours, but why didn't he think delivering the message at his home? I'm pretty sure the message would've been just as clear. Also, how did Colossus fly the Blackbird so quietly to land on the highway? It's not like Deadpool would be that distracted to get his revenge. That jet can go into stealth mode, but that doesn't mean it'll be mute. That's dumber than Ajax being able to escape with a damaged motorcycle and rev it up without Deadpool hearing it. That scene irritates me as well because NTW could've stopped him too since she saw him break free. I then feel lost when Wade chooses to snatch Francis' dry cleaning tag off his lab coat because it's hard to buy he would have time to do so with Angel Dust watching over him in between the torture. I know we need an excuse for Wade to escape, but why didn't the restraints prevent him from head butting Angel Dust? Since she is the one who restrains him extremely tight, it does not make sense, especially since she doesn't point out the missing match she had before the head butt. Of course she wouldn't think twice because she has a box set, but she should throw a little concern to prove dominance. I'm not trying to root for the villains, but they just need to be smarter is all. It is also pretty convenient for her to recognize Vanessa, but when? She doesn't look like the one who enjoys going out to the club in between her torture sessions. If she goes to the strip club on occasion, there should've been a scene to confirm it. It is pretty funny that Weasel calls out her and Francis' clothing look like cosplay to Blade II, but why not say Blade Trinity instead of the predecessor? It would've been another clever fourth wall break since Reynolds was in that film as well. It is funny that Deadpool forgets his duffel bag of guns which leads to Dopinder getting to a pickle, but why didn't Dopinder tell him he forgot the guns? it's not like he's gonna all of those cousins on Bandhu. I'm even more confused on Francis found out that Deadpool can grow back limbs. It's not like Al or Colossus would tell him, so was there a surviving henchman that recollected what he saw or did Angel look at the closest camera feed near the highway? Whichever the answer, please clarify. And lastly, I was indeed laughing when seeing Wade use a magazine cover of Hugh Jackman as a secondary mask, but it makes no sense for two reasons: One, I remember him leaving the same magazine in the duffel bag he forgot and two, there is no way he could see through its eyeholes during all the action. Other than that, this movie remains just as fun. In short, Deadpool is easily the funniest superhero movie to be made for letting loose in the best way. If you need a laugh, this is the one for you.
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