Went to see opening night Deadpool, the new X-Men universe superhero flick starring the wiseass antihero played by Ryan Reynolds. Putting it out there: this is a very funny bunch of tomfoolery and crass R rated silliness… and I’m sure the movie makers would agree with that.
Deadpool is the origin story for the fourth-wall-breaking “superhero” that is a pretty great comedy and a very good action film. The movie knows it’s a movie and it talks to the audience and even has a long opening credit scene that has no actual real credits in it. Deadpool is joined by two X-Men from the X-Men universe – Colossus and Negasonic Teenage Warhead (who, Deadpool and I agree, has a great name)… and they reference why there’s only two X-Men in the movie in a very funny line. The fun thing is that the self-referential jokes (they name check the actors who have played Professor X, the messy timeline of the X films, Wolverine, and much more) don’t break the fun, action, and stakes of the movie, even though it feels like it should.
And, yes, the stakes. Morena Baccarin and Ryan Reynolds have great chemistry and, as a couple, they are a very sweet (if dirty) couple. It’s their love story (and a huge bout of cancer) that drives the origin story and then the ultimate plot and it works. Given how goofy the flick is, it’s still kind of a compelling (if low stakes) love story. Or a love story as an excuse to have a few pretty slick action flicks and enough of a story to get through to the end and a very funny end-credit sequence that works on multiple levels (especially if you consider Negasonic Teenage Warhead’s annoyed reactions to a lot of Deadpool’s dated pop culture references).
As noted, and as a warning, this is an R rated flick – I thought it might be more R rated but it’s still pretty hard R rated. The funny thing is, it’s not as dark and mean-spirited as it could have been. Which doesn’t mean it isn’t full of decapitations, limbs getting cut off, tons of F bombs, sex scenes, and strip clubs.
I thoroughly enjoyed this movie and have very little too criticize it for. As good (or as tiresome) as I am over-analyzing things that shouldn’t be over-analyzed, I can’t really dig up much negative to say here. I grinned and laughed my way through – it’s not a deep flick but it’s fun and has enough humanity (and Morena Baccarin in one of her best roles) to chug through what (if one were to over-analyze it) is a pretty flimsy plot. But we are just having fun here and the movie nails it.
Score: 88