Deadpool Movie Review

Deadpool (2016)

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Written by: Rob Liefeld and Fabian Nicieza (character), Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick (screenplay)
Directed by: Tim Miller
Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Morena Baccarin, T.J. Miller, Ed Skrein, Gina Carano
Rated: R

Plot:
Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) becomes Deadpool after an experimental procedure leaves him severely scarred but able to heal rapidly. He wants revenge on the man who made him this way.

Verdict:
Unrestrained and profane. Super hero movies aren't always kid movies. Deadpool takes every opportunity to pan everything. It's often raunchy, but you can tell the writers had a lot of fun developing the script with Reynolds having fun bringing the character to life. The jokes are the main feature as the plot is paper thin.
It depends.

Review:
This is a project Ryan Reynolds has been trying to make for a few years. The cameo in X-Men Origins: Wolverine wasn't a great depiction.

Deadpool, the character and movie, is irreverent and raunchy. It lampoons the typical super hero movie. Insulting Reynolds's turn as the Green Lantern, the X-Men, and Wolverine. The script is often witty, relying on misdirection and subverting expectations.

The opening credit sequence is a still of an action sequence, the camera snaking around a car overturned  in mid air, men flying from it, and Deadpool in the center of it. None of the actors or crew are named directly. They are billed as comic relief or british villain. The director is overpaid and the writers are the real heroes.

Wade Wilson is Deadpool and he wants revenge on the man that left him scarred. He doesn't want to save the world or help anyone. It's a story of simple revenge. The first action sequence is easily the best. Snappy action and dialog abound as he deadpans to the audience. He often breaks the fourth wall and gleefully makes jokes throughout. Deadpool typifies the anti-hero, addressing the fact that his actions are selfish and murderous.

The timeline jumps around which helps maintain momentum and masks the rather simple plot. This movie is little more than a Deadpool origin story, but it avoids feeling typical until the final act. The end is rather typical as Deadpool must save his girlfriend and take out the villain. It's a sequence that isn't as playful as the introduction. The last battle is perfunctory, falling into typical tropes. I was hoping Deadpool would be more subversive. The movie began gleeful and glib, but it doesn't maintain that energy. It's a fun character trapped in a standard story.

I don't know why Colossus and the Negasonic Teenage Warhead were included other than to play the foil for Deadpool's deadpanning and pad the run time. Why do they want him to be in the X-men. Is it a homage to the comics, or a joke riffing that Professor X tries to recruit every mutant?
While Reynolds brings the character to life, most of his lines could, or may have been, recorded after filming. His facial expression in costume, have to be mostly computer generated. Yet, I didn't think it conveyed enough emotion.