Deadpool – Film Review
Released just 48 hours before Valentine’s Day, I think Deadpool was set to get many romantics excited to see how Ryan Reynolds’ dapper face would hold up during valiant action scenes. And indeed, just when you thought it could not get sexier, several flashes of Reynolds’ character’s turtle-skin face and abs, looking like they had been thrown into a blender, graced the screen.
Even the opening credits set the perfect tone for heroic romance with lines that read, “Produced by asshats” and “Directed by an overpaid tool”. I mean, if this movie did not put couples in the mood for love during the Valentine’s weekend, then I do not know what could.
I only got to enjoy the film a few days after its release, but those who watch last laugh the longest, – right? Apparently “Written by the Real Heroes Here”, Deadpool tells the story of Marvel’s most unconventional hero (Ryan Reynolds) as he hunts down a British villain named Ajax (Ed Skrein), who is responsible for disfiguring his handsome face.
I did not expect Reynolds to be so well-suited for this character. In the last Reynolds movie I watched, The Proposal, he played quite the endearing character. But in Deadpool his presence on screen is really strong. And although I found it hard to engage with the character emotionally, I do think that the whole antihero aspect of the story is what gives Deadpool its appeal.
In Deadpool, Marvel’s comic book protagonist is out in the city shooting and stabbing with reckless abandon to quite literally save his own skin. And boy, are those shooting scenes epic. From pieces of brains flying about to bodies being impaled in the air. Surely, anybody who is squeamish is a worthless viewer.
Personally, I do not get excited seeing guts and gore in movies but the directing made quite the show of all the action and blood spattering. If anything, it is the writing that could have done with fewer wisecrack jokes but we get a feel of Deadpool’s flippant character nonetheless. With both the writing and directing, we get to observe this character’s clear instability while we witness his skill with wonder.
Interestingly enough, Deadpool’s instability is why the comic itself is so adored by Marvel fans. The character is famous for breaking through the fourth wall, which prompts the audience that he is aware of his fictional existence, while remaining in a made up sphere. In the film, Deadpool quite blatantly mentions the fourth wall and talks directly to the screen several times.
From the comic snippets I have seen, however, the graphic novel does a better job at creating the irony of fiction versus non-fiction and I think the fourth wall insertions in the movie are quite sloppy. Nonetheless, the thought is appreciated.
With this in mind, and given the high quality of each of the scenes, I am surprised this film was not released in 3D. I think this could have enhanced the engagement between the viewer and the story and contributed a little more to the movie’s irony. And even though I could not whole-heartedly engage the character, I still find Deadpool a treat to watch.
