Movie Review: Deadpool is a riot

Deadpool is like that big greasy burger with all the fixings. You know it’s bad for you, but you can’t deny yourself the tasty, guilty pleasure.

As our foul-mouthed anti-hero warns us at the very beginning of the film, “You’re probably thinking, ‘This is a superhero movie, but that guy in the suit just turned that other guy into a kebab.’ Surprise! This is a different kind of superhero story.”

[am2_see_also]

Truer words have never been spoken. If you are not familiar with Deadpool, then be forewarned that for all the good that comic book heroes like Captain America and Iron Man stand for, this anti-superhero film doesn’t give a F#*K about any of that.

The basic origin story goes as follows: A former Special Forces operative, turned mercenary Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds), finds out he has cancer. He is approached by a rogue organization that claims they can cure him and at the same time give him accelerated healing powers.

After being subjected to what was more torture than therapy, Wilson is left to die and burned to a crisp. Armed with his new abilities and a dark, twisted sense of humor, he adopts the alter ego of Deadpool and hunts down the men who nearly destroyed him. It’s all about revenge in the most violent ways possible.

You are never eased into this film. It begins with an assault on your senses with chaos and wisecracks all taking place on Vancouver’s Georgia Street viaduct. There are slow-motion car crashes, bodies and weapons flying this way and that, but all of this happens to the sweet sounds of the pop ballad “Angel in the Morning.”

Before you know what is going on, the opening credits hit the screen with “Directed by an overpaid tool,” or “Produced by an asshole.” It’s all so different to anything Marvel has ever done before.

Many fans have been clamouring and waiting for a true representation of the “Merc with the Mouth” ever since 2009’s film X-Men Origins: Wolverine featured a Deadpool who shot freakin’ laser beams from his eyes and had his mouth sewn shut. Yes, Vancouver’s Ryan Reynolds also shamefully played that unfortunate version of Deadpool in what he described as a “frustrating experience.” We’ll also forgive and forget the time he wore a glowing Green Lantern CGI suit in the disastrous DC comics adaption too. .

This was a passion project for Reynolds and everyone involved. They vowed they would bring fans the true big screen treatment of the fourth-wall-breaking mercenary antihero before it was too late. They kept their word and boy did he ever hit this one out of the park.

This is a potty-mouthed, insanely violent, super cheeky and riotously funny film that hits all the right notes for adults who like a little kill spree in their superheroes. Most of all… it’s a lot of fun.

You have to get past the basic and predictable revenge story. We could sit here and throw darts and find things that didn’t work in the film. However, like Star Wars: The Force Awakens, nobody wants to hear the ramblings of a stuck up film critic or cinephile. This is Deadpool, none of it is supposed to make sense or be subjected to over analyzation.

As I’ve already said, this isn’t your typical superhero movie where a primary coloured protagonist embarks on all ages adventure. Instead there’s lots of bums, boobs, and blood in this movie. So parents, leave your young kids at home. And teenagers, feel free to sneak into this one. Just tell your parents you’re going to check out Zoolander 2, or bring your crazy older Uncle as your “parental guidance.”

This film is rated R, like a hard R (14a) and not even close to the same realm as PG safe Avengers. But we do get a couple of X-Men in Colossus (Stefan Kapicic) and Negasonic Teenage Warhead (Brianna Hildebrand), and as Deadpool says outright, “this film didn’t have the budget for bigger stars.”

The rest of the cast rounds out nicely with the likes of Morena Baccarin, Ed Skrein, T.J. Miller, and Gina Carano. But nobody is going to be accepting any Academy Awards here. Director Tim Miller is just starting his career as a filmmaker, and to spit a movie out like this as his first real feature, is nothing short of outstanding.

However, a film with a bad plot is still a film with a bad plot, but Deadpool lets you know from the very beginning that this is not a movie to be taken seriously. You were warned. Despite all of its minor flaws or issues, as a viewer you are along for the ride and in on the joke the entire time.

Let’s be honest for a second, the superhero genre needed a shakeup. We might have entered the over-saturation zone when it comes to comic book adaptations, but it’s not stopping anytime soon. So thank God for Deadpool! Another Marvel classic we can put alongside Guardians of the Galaxy.

Cinema Factoid: This is Ryan Reynolds’s fifth time in a comic book movie. He was previously Marvel’s Hannibal in Blade: Trinity (2004), Wade Wilson in X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009), Hal Jordan in DC’s Green Lantern (2011) and Nick Walker in Dark Horse’s R.I.P.D. (2013). – IMDB

[am2_see_also]

Vancouver native Ryan Reynolds had a ton of fun filming in his hometown and it shows as he embraces every element that makes Deadpool so fun and unique. Without that kind of spirit and wit, Deadpool would have been dead as a door-nail.

Reynolds was born to play this part even though it took him five attempts to find the right superhero spandex. Who knew that so much goodness could come from a character who claims to be from Regina, Saskatchewan.

Other films in this genre might have more substance, but none of them have the stylistic badassery we get with this latest Marvel offering. Deadpool gets 4 raindrops out of 5. It’s not perfect but who cares? It’s one of the best action films of the year and many comic loving geeks will be having nerdgasms in their seats.

To hear more about Deadpool and other new releases this week, click on the audio player below for Flix Anonymous.

Deadpool opens today, February 12, at a theatre near you. Film is rated 14A (for bums, boobs and blood)

[youtube id=”ZIM1HydF9UA”]

https://soundcloud.com/flixanonymous/episode-15-reviews-deadpool-zoolander-2-nina-forever-and-more