Deadpool Review

Deadpool (2016)
Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Morena Baccarin, Ed Skrein
Directed by: Tim Miller


This Valentine's Day weekend, the comic book world was able to celebrate a film event we never thought possible: a solo-film adaptation of fan favorite anti-hero Deadpool. I don't think the causal viewer will know just how impossible comic book fans thought this film would be to achieve. In the modern comic book film era we live in, it's a superhero movie with a hard R rating, for a comic book character that has one of the biggest cult followings out there, starring the guy that brought the character to life in that God awful X-Men Origins: Wolverine film, and has been in development hell for over a decade. Needless to say, I was excited but skeptical. And surprisingly, the film works REALLY well. In fact, for what it's trying to be, it's about as perfect as you can get. It has a great cast. It has great action sequences. And the humor is off the charts in being both completely raunchy and heavily meta. I'm not sure if I can give it much more praise than that, but darn it, I'm gonna try. These are my initial thoughts and impressions about Deadpool.

Ryan Reynolds stars as Wade Wilson, a cancer victim who undergoes a procedure that turns him into the anti-hero Deadpool. What can I possibly say other than Reynolds was born to play Deadpool. He's absolutely perfect. He knows this character so well and plays him to perfection. He has the humor down, the comedic timing, the smarmy, yet likable attitude. It's like seeing Hugh Jackman as Wolverine or Robert Downey, Jr. as Iron Man. I don't want anyone else playing Deadpool on film except for Ryan Reynolds. It's no secret that Deadpool was not handled well in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, but at least Reynolds left an impression as the character. And considering that Reynolds helped produce this movie, you can tell he has an attachment to the role and handles his performance with a lot of love and respect.

But Reynolds isn't the only memorable performance in the movie. This film has a tremendous supporting cast. Morena Baccarin plays Wade Wilson's girlfriend Vanessa and you really get the chemistry between the two, even if it is through dirty jokes. Ed Skrein plays main villain Ajax, doing a great job at being a villain you want to see get beat up. He's one you love to hate, which is honestly hard to come by if you look at a lot of the modern Marvel movies. And that's just the tip of a rich cast of great characters. I can't talk about all of them, or else we'd be here all day and there'd be no reason to check it out. But trust me when I say this, Deadpool knows how to get on each of their last nerves.

One thing that made the film great to watch was the action sequences. And no, it's not just because of how gory it was, although that does help. The action was boosted by the unique set pieces, which created scenes that felt very fresh to watch. When you're a comic book fan and you see a fight scene that feels fresh to watch, it is a completely exhilarating, balls to the walls kind of experience that has you raging in your theater seat going "YEAH!!! DEADPOOL!!! WOO!!!" We live in a time where the action genre in mainstream films is nearly non-existent. Nothing feels that new anymore, so I was very refreshed to see a joke-spewing Ryan Reynolds hack and shoot every bad guy in his path. Does that make me a bad person? I don't know. I don't care. I just know what I like, and that action I liked a lot.

But the element that allows Deadpool to live up to the hype is the humor. Known for breaking the 4th wall and having some of the most inappropriate humor in all of comic books, the humor was key to get right. If they hadn't hit the right note in the humor department, or God forbid made it a PG-13 film, it wouldn't work. This film made me laugh. HARD. My goodness, I was crying in the theater. They hit every reference that you'd expect them to hit. Sex jokes, X-Men jokes, MCU jokes, drug jokes, jokes about Green Lantern, jokes about Deadpool in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, jokes about Ryan Reynold's acting ability, talking to the audience, referencing another film to do the post credits sequence. It just keeps you laughing over and over. This is the superhero movie for adults to sit through, thoroughly enjoy, feel completely bad about themselves afterwards, and not give a crap about the consequences. And that's the kind of feeling I think a film like Deadpool needs to leave on its audience. And that's why it's awesome!


Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Deadpool delivers everything you would be hoping for in his big screen adaptation. Great action sequences, adult humor, memorable characters, and enough meta humor to satisfy everyone out there on the internet. If you're a fan of the property, you won't be disappointed. If you're a casual superhero fan, give it a shot if you're looking for something a little less formulaic. Just PLEASE do not take your kids with you to this.

Deadpool and movie images are copyrighted by 20th Century Fox