By Kevin Shaw
Staff Writer
With a character seemingly custom-fit for him, Ryan Reynolds rocks it with his portrayal of everyone’s favorite “Merc with a Mouth,” Deadpool.
Surprisingly, this is not Reynolds’s first on-screen depiction of the character. In the abysmal box office flop “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” viewers are casually introduced to Wade Wilson, a.k.a. Deadpool, as part of an elite mutant task force. He is criminally underused, cast aside and then literally has his mouth sewn shut — his best feature! But I digress.
This time around, Deadpool receives the respect he deserves and it makes for a truly fantastic film.
The Red Band trailers, the producers and even the character himself, in a fourth-wall-breaking fight sequence, admit that this “isn’t your average superhero movie.” And they’re right. This is the first R-rated Marvel film in recent memory.
With headshots, knife and sword wounds, a plethora of profanity and even a little dismemberment, it is safe to say this is not a film fit for the whole family.
Without spoiling anything, the plot of the movie was solid. The story progression was great, too. It seamlessly flowed from real-time events to flashbacks and back again.
The few problems I had with the movie were with the side character development. The villains are just all right. I’m not sure if Gina Carano’s character had a single line and Ed Skrein’s character is your stereotypical British bad guy. Neither was anything special.
Unfortunately, the “X-Men” sidekicks suffered a similar fate. Both Colossus and Negasonic Teenage Warhead were just kind of dropped into the film and really didn’t contribute much. Viewers don’t see any spectacular use of Negasonic’s powers — she mainly pushed stuff around with her nuclear explosions. It was pretty boring. But this is a Deadpool movie after all, so I’m glad they focused mostly on him.
My biggest fear going into this movie was the writing. No matter how cool the explosions are and no matter how good the story is, if the portrayal of Deadpool himself was cheesy or the jokes weren’t funny, this movie would have been a bust. Thankfully, my fears never came to fruition.
All of the jokes made in the movie were on-point. The constant digs at Reynolds’s “Green Lantern” movie, the verbal abuse of the production company and the references to other characters in the Marvel Universe had me laughing from the beginning credits to the hidden after-credit scene (definitely watch until the very end. It’s well worth the wait).
I can’t forget about the man of the hour (and 48 minutes): Reynolds. Due credit has to be given to the writers for coming up with such funny jokes, but half of a joke is its delivery, and Reynolds delivers big time.
Every actor has a character they were born to play. Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man, Hugh Jackman as Wolverine and Philip Seymour Hoffman as Truman Capote are just a few.
The only word I can use to describe Reynolds’s portrayal of Deadpool is perfect. He was born to play this role and it’s something you’ll have to see for yourself. “Deadpool” is my new favorite Marvel movie and I think you’ll enjoy it too.
