Deadpool (d. Tim Miller USA/Canada 2016)

Please read On Reviews for a guide to how I write film reviews. Any spoilers are appropriately marked and, though I personally prefer to know little about a film before seeing it, there is a synopsis at the bottom for any who wish to see one.

Entertainment:

Performances:

Predictability:

Technical:

Shhh! He knows you’re reading about him

Deadpool is another Marvel superhero character that resides within the X-Men universe. The character appears popular as he turned in the comics from a antagonist to an anti-hero. Hopefully this isn’t a spoiler but the character is known for breaking the fourth wall. This both made sense for the character but gave plenty of room for creativity to the character as well. Marvel’s film series seems to be only getting bigger and bigger with the release of the X-Men saga and everything connected to The Avengers Saga spin offs and all. Superheroes are well and truly in. However, they’re also getting rather repetitive. Origin story and how they learned to train their new found powers getting particularly formulaic. So one may, by now, be quite hesitant about a brand new superhero. In the coming years this formula will be changed by bringing heroes against heroes in a slight change to the familiar superhero story – Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice (d.Zack Snyder USA 2016) and Captain America: Civil War (d.Anthony Russo, Joe Russo USA 2016) for example. So where does Deadpool lie?

Well with Deadpool immediately character, acting, script and direction jumps out at you. Ryan Reynolds does a remarkable job as the title character who has been scripted with some remarkable jokes of rather adult humour that keeps fresh and is appropriate for the rating of the film. Unfortunately most films tend to decline in spite of their rating, with many 18 or NC-17 rated films failing to understand the implications of that rating. For example, an 18 or NC-17 rated film may have some violence and gore but otherwise restrict itself in its target audience and appear to aim only for teenagers. This has led to many films acting poorly. Deadpool fully understands the 15 or R rating it was given, the jokes and content are clearly for older audiences which is both refreshing and effective. The script is also refreshing to reflect this, using flashbacks to effectively deliver a fresher form of narrative that appears very relevant to the type of mind the protagonist has.

This mindset, that of the title character, lends itself very well also to the technical capacity of the film. In the slight madness or off beat humour of the character and willingness to break the fourth wall, the film allows for creativity in it’s humour. The credit sequence a very good example of this and turning something from information to a refreshing joke. This is played with throughout the film and shows some very good supporting effects to achieve this. This is somewhat reliant upon the protagonist of Deadpool but is supported very well by the supporting cast. However, they were at times overshadowed by the titler character who uses them very well as bouncing boards for entertainment and humour. Possibly a spoiler but one example is how he mocks Negasonic Teenage Warhead (Brianna Hildebrand) reducing her to a character and plot device and no more. This is comedic but reduces the character to something fairly 2-dimensional. As criticisms go this is a small one and is overshadowed by just how entertaining the humour actually is. Main point being that superhero films have become predictable and formulaic and so it is wonderful to see them mocking this in such a way.

So Deadpool is a refreshing film which is considerably entertaining and well worth a look. Criticisms are few and are easily overlooked. Deadpool has come at a good time for superhero films. However, it is possible that if you dislike Ryan Reynolds and a lot of CGI or even a rather adult sensibility to films then perhaps this may not hit you as well as it does others. But what Deadpool does, it does well, just be mindful of what it does.

Synopsis

A superhero who claims not to be a superhero tells his story of how he became Deadpool and came to be looking for a man called Francis, who may not be his best friend.

Deadpool (d. Tim Miller USA/Canada 2016)

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