REVIEW - Deadpool
February 21, 2016
Deadpool isn't Ryan Reynolds' first rodeo as the one commonly known as the 'Merc with a Mouth', as he was last seen instead as an unrecognisable 'Merc with his mouth sewn, claws installed, teleporting plus laser vision', brawling with Hugh Jackman atop a power plant in 2009's much-maligned X-Men Origins: Wolverine (watch out for that particular action figure in Deadpool!).
Fortunately, the events of 2014's X-Men: Days of Future Past retconned that continuity out of existence, allowing for a faithful representation of the Rob Liefeld-created comic book character. However, a Deadpool film, a R-rated one at that, wasn't greenlit over at 20th Century Fox until a test footage was 'leaked' online to online critical acclaim. So here we are years later, with the long gestating film's eventual release, but is Deadpool more 'worthy of the hype'? More 'game changer in the R-rated superhero genre'? Or is it more so 'average film resorting to profanity to cover its faults'?
Even by superhero origin movie standards, the plot of Deadpool, is sadly of the more cliched superhero origins variants. It chronologically starts off with former mercenary Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds), recently stricken with cancer, who undergoes an illegal, mutant experimentation out of his loved one, but in the process gains regenerative powers (Wolverine-ish) yet becomes horribly disfigured. Now donning the pseudonym Deadpool, Wade goes on a foul-mouthed killing spree to sought out those who made him, as the trailer nicely pointed out... unf*ckable. I wouldn't further dwell too much on the story set-up here, as its base storyline is enough to explain/form the entire film's 108 minute runtime. Think the first of Sam Raimi's Spider-Man film and you wouldn't be too far off the mark in terms of Deadpool's story.
Despite a largely unsurprising plot, Tim Miller and the writing team (Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick) do try to shake things up by having our anti-hero Wade Wilson already donning the costume from the get-go, with the necessary(?) superhero-coming-of-age/origin portion appearing in the form of flashbacks throughout the film's first hour. This at least brings us right into the thick of the action at the very first minute (beginning with the much seen highway segments, complete with self-referencing opening credits), though these fun action sequences sort of grinds to a halt whenever we are brought back to the pre-red spandex period, leaving much of the film staged on the very same freeway.
And these flashbacks are when the film relies on Reynolds' charms as well as his chemistry with his co-stars, including love interest Vanessa (Morena Baccarin), whose relationship serves as the primary motivation and gets the ball rolling for the movie, amidst all the impeding bloodshed. Sadly, while she's made her presence known opposite Wade Wilson with her own bag of hilarious lines in those these scenes, Vanessa largely becomes the damsel in distress in the present time events of the movie (even if the trailers had suggested otherwise).
Instead, Deadpool spends most of his time either trading quips with his bartender buddy Weasel (a superior performance T.J. Miller since Trans4mers), or coming to blows against villainous mutants Ajax/Francis (new Transporter Ed Skrein) and Angel Dust (Gina Carano). Speaking of mutants and the X-Men earlier, Fox also managed to wring out two supposingly 'affordable' mutant characters for Deadpool to toy with, being a new goody two-shoes, CGI Colossus (Stefan Kapičić) and his trainee, the angsty Negasonic Teenage Warhead (Brianna Hildebrand), who is as cool as the name suggests. The third act, where all the mutants, good and bad, clash at an abandoned Helicarrier (the Marvel Studios lawyers may be calling Fox right now...) was a treat to see with every ongoing fight, despite rumours that the budget for that scene was diced.
The film's smaller scope also works in Deadpool's favour. Having much less apocalyptic stakes than those faced by his mutant siblings (similar to the Ant-Man/Avengers comparison), the largely grounded setting perfectly suits the offbeat/charismatic nature of the Deadpool comic character, thus making this film the more faithful representation of a comic character by a mile. This is the Deadpool adaptation fans have been waiting years since his debut - the sarcastic, talkative and downright hilarious character known for his fourth wall-breaking antics - is what elevates Deadpool from a potentially mediocre origin story to an entertaining, well-written film adaptation, and it's obvious that Reynolds is having an absolute blast here.From Wade's shade towards Reynold's previous superhero outing Green Lantern, to asking which Professor was he seeing (a personal favourite)... , or the Liam Neeson dream... or the multiple jabs at Hugh Jackman... wait, or even the budgetary restrains on cameos, the amount meta-humour present in Deadpool is endless, and this can be traced back to the filmmakers' creativity as well as the studios' lack of interference (somebody learnt from Fan4stic), where the sort of humour rarely translate well into film.
To sum it up - Deadpool, in essence, is like that average pancake mix drizzled with the absolute finest of toppings and sauces. The story may feel unoriginal at times, but it is those that populates the main event, being Reynolds, the supporting casts, as well as the amusing dialogue throughout, that makes it a first-of-its kind as superhero films go. After so many botched comic attempts, with Green Lantern, R.I.P.D. and the aforementioned X-Men Origins under his belt, Reynolds has finally forged a successful franchise starter to call home. With a sequel already on the way, and obviously more budget from Fox to come, it'll be interesting to see how the production team pick up after what has been a unique, albeit entertaining superhero romp. Just don't let Shan from Klang watch the next one.
8.0/10
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