Deadpool stars Ryan Reynolds as a potty mouthed anti-hero in a role he can actually be proud of since his days on Two Guys and Girl (and A Pizza Place).
I’m going to break this film into three parts, entitled: The Good, The Bad and The Other, as that was pretty much how I surmised the film after I watched it and discussed it with my buddy.
The Good
This film was crude and ballsy (pun intended) but not in a cringing way which can be very difficult to do. The effects gave an adult level of humour to the movie and allowed us to connect with a character whose face was concealed half the time. The jokes, the gestures and the antics helped build a persona for the masked man, so much so that he seemed almost separate from the person under it.
This film was crude and ballsy (pun intended) but not in a cringing way which can be very difficult to do. The effects gave an adult level of humour to the movie and allowed us to connect with a character whose face was concealed half the time. The jokes, the gestures and the antics helped build a persona for the masked man, so much so that he seemed almost separate from the person under it.
Away from characterisation, something that I thought was pure genius was the opening scene. It consisted of a frozen moment in time; Inside a car that was in the middle of crashing. The camera then took us through the scene as the opening credits appeared and instead of using the actors/casts real names, they were cited as funny stereotypes.
Within the first 5 seconds of this scene I turned to my friend and said;This movie is going to be sick.
The Bad
With a slightly more than average running time of 108minutes and a plot I could explain in three short sentences, I cannot fathom why the film actually took so long. It is quite cleverly done, confusing you with time jumps, witty lines and fourth wall narration, but at the end of the day, the plot was pretty thin. Most of these superhero films start with an origin story, and although that was implemented in Deadpool, I thought it was pretty weak and rushed. I know you comic book fans are preparing to tell me; but that’s how it happened in #23 Deadpool Risesor whatever, but from a film point of view it was ultimately a cop out. This was something they could have spent a lot more time crafting in order to give the film another dimension as opposed to it being a plot point to get through.
With a slightly more than average running time of 108minutes and a plot I could explain in three short sentences, I cannot fathom why the film actually took so long. It is quite cleverly done, confusing you with time jumps, witty lines and fourth wall narration, but at the end of the day, the plot was pretty thin. Most of these superhero films start with an origin story, and although that was implemented in Deadpool, I thought it was pretty weak and rushed. I know you comic book fans are preparing to tell me; but that’s how it happened in #23 Deadpool Risesor whatever, but from a film point of view it was ultimately a cop out. This was something they could have spent a lot more time crafting in order to give the film another dimension as opposed to it being a plot point to get through.
The OtherWe have already gathered that I am a fan of Deadpool as a character; he’s funny, unconventional, looks great in red, and really involves the viewer in the story through his forth wall narration. However the line of acceptable absurdity starts to disintegrate when one constantly admits the false reality of the universe in which they reside. This isn’t the matrix so when lines such as this crop up.
Colossus: You will come talk with professor Xavier.
Deadpool: McAvoy or Stewart? These timelines can get so confusing.
Deadpool: McAvoy or Stewart? These timelines can get so confusing.
You have caused the viewer to stop believing in the world you have created and jerked them back into reality. It works if you are subtle with the ‘outside jokes’
But throwing in pictures like this;
On a constant level doesn’t put you in the same state of mental concentration. Don’t get me wrong every, joke and jibe was thigh slappingly comical, but there is an art to doing such things well, and it’s an art that Deadpool was unable to master.
As a whole the film worked for what it was, but I don’t know what the Marvel Cinematic Universe has in store for Deadpool as a character. Everything was tied up with a nice big red bow so it’s hard to imagine where the storyline of a potential Deadpool 2 would go. As well as that the character is unique in that I can’t see him fitting in with the PG13 crew of all the other Marvel Movies. That being said, I would be more than happy to see Deadpool in the future.
(A quick shout out to Ed Skrein who played Ajax; Deadpool’s nemesis. Although there was no real understanding of his ability, his mission or his cruelty, he was one good looking adversary and that was enough for me.)
