Review
Making it Big!
With Deadpool out and the weekend box office numbers in, ICYMI (In Case You Missed It), it slaughtered its characters and the competition, earning over 200 million worldwide and set a bunch of records. The key factor is the rating of this juggernaut of a tent pole, its rated R, already setting records for movies of its kind. Will this winning combination inspire other studios to follow suit and make more adult centric comic book adaptions? It’s possible, but not likely.
So what are the factors that helped launch Deadpool to that next level success? Well, a raw approach of self awareness and a raunchy comedy style certainly make it standout. Its reminiscent of Annie Hall but with the mind of Kevin Smith and George Romero’s love child. Which shouldn’t be a good thing but it most certainly is.
Ryan Reynolds have now been in five films adapted from comics, starting with Blade: Trinity, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Green Lantern, R.I.P.D. and most recently Deadpool. Spoiler alert, the first four attempts sucked balls! Deadpool pulls no punches, mocking its leading man to a degree worthy of a “shots fired” callout. Where its self-deprecating humor succeeds is in the realization of how cool it knows this movie is. The American public has been waiting for Van Wilder with Samurai swords for years. Just kidding, it absolutely hasn’t. Having said that, it was seemingly ready for it, except all those parents who may have thought this was Iron Man 4. Oops. Can you say scarred for life?
It maintains the approach of minimal filmmaking whilst still making a big budget marvel movie, with a first time feature director, it feels anything but amateur. Reynolds was quite possibly created in a lab to play this character. Like a robot who gains consciousness, he began to understand his place in Hollywood as a strikingly handsome asshole who really wasn’t very talented at all. In Deadpool, his lack of ability works in his favor, with his face looking like Freddy Kruger’s ball sack, his very cool costume serves as a brown bag for his disgusting body. This movie turned one of America’s “sexiest” entertainers into a “butter face” in the most fantastic of fashions. Regardless of the lead characters potty mouth or sketchy background in military assassinations, he is seemingly an ideal modern man, even in a fictional comic book world. It may not be a perfect movie in any scene, but it has four or five moments that reach a heroic greatness. A summer thrill ride the whole family can’t enjoy.
Original title: Deadpool (2016)
Duration: 106 min.
Country: United States
Director: Tim Miller
Screenwriter: Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick (Characters: Rob Liefeld, Fabian Nicieza)
Cinematography: Ken Seng
Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Morena Baccarin, Gina Carano, T.J. Miller, Ed Skrein, Rachel Sheen, Brianna Hildebrand, Paul Lazenby, Sean Quan, Ben Wilkinson, Naika Toussaint, Olesia Shewchuk, Kyle Cassie, Style Dayne, Fabiola Colmenero, Stan Lee
