Friday, February 12, 2016

MOVIE REVIEW: DEADPOOL (2016)

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From IMDB:

Storyline

This is the origin story of former Special Forces operative turned mercenary Wade Wilson, who after being subjected to a rogue experiment that leaves him with accelerated healing powers, adopts the alter ego Deadpool. Armed with his new abilities and a dark, twisted sense of humor, Deadpool hunts down the man who nearly destroyed his life.Written by 20th Century Fox

Deadpool (2016) on IMDb


Reviews 58 user | 1 critic



MOVIE INFO

Based upon Marvel Comics' most unconventional anti-hero, DEADPOOL tells the origin story of former Special Forces operative turned mercenary Wade Wilson, who after being subjected to a rogue experiment that leaves him with accelerated healing powers, adopts the alter ego Deadpool. Armed with his new abilities and a dark, twisted sense of humor, Deadpool hunts down the man who nearly destroyed his life. (C) Foxmore

Rating: R (for strong violence and language throughout, sexual content and graphic nudity)
Directed By: Tim Miller
Runtime: 1 hr. 40 min.
20th Century Fox - Official Site


TOMATOMETER 82%
Average Rating: 7/10 | Reviews Counted: 135
Fresh: 111 | Rotten: 24
Critics Consensus: Fast, funny, and gleefully profane, the fourth-wall-busting Deadpool subverts superhero film formula with wildly entertaining -- and decidedly non-family-friendly -- results.
WANT TO SEE 99% want to see
User Ratings: 94,229

DEADPOOL OPENS ON FEBRUARY 12th WORLDWIDE. IF IT DOESN'T CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT WHEN. 

The man is Wade Wilson, the lady Vanessa his soon to be girlfriend. Doesn't Mr Wilson look like Macklemore? ©20th Century Fox

So the movie that few studios actually wanted to make but fans were screaming for finally gets released...

So Wade Wilson a.k.a. Deadpool, a Marvel character that has a pretty fanatic fan base but not as popular as the X-Men or the Avengers. Why? Well, here's a couple of paragraphs from the very interesting Wikipedia page for the character. 

Fictional character biography 
The character's back-story has been presented as vague and subject to change, and within the narrative he is unable to remember his personal history due to a mental condition. Whether or not his name was even Wade Wilson is subject to speculation since one of his nemeses, T-Ray, claims in Deadpool #33 that he is the real Wade Wilson and that Deadpool is a vicious murderer who stole his identity.[51] There have been other dubious stories about his history—at one point the supervillain Loki claimed to be his father.[52] Frequently, revelations are later retconned or ignored altogether, and in one issue, Deadpool himself joked that whether he is actually Wade Wilson depends on which the writer or the reader prefers.[53] 
He has professed to be Canadian,[54] even though the original story had him joining the Weapon X program after being kicked out of the United States Army Special Forces.[55]

Personality 
Deadpool is aware that he is a fictional comic book character.[56] He commonly breaks the fourth wall, which is done by few other characters in the Marvel Universe, and this is used to humorous effect. He often has conversations with his two internal monologues, which are shown as caption boxes in his panels; in Deadpool #28 it is revealed that the villain Doctor Bong, a foe of Howard the Duck, is the logical voice appearing in yellow captions,[57] and in Deadpool Annual #1 (2014) it is revealed that Madcap, a foe of Captain America, is the psychotic voice appearing in white captions with a typewriter serif.[58] 
Deadpool is depicted as having an accelerated healing factor, which not only prevents him from being permanently injured through enhanced cell regeneration throughout his body, but also causes psychosis and mental instability, as his neurons are also affected by the accelerated regeneration. It is thought that while his psychoses are a handicap, they are also one of his assets as they make him an extremely unpredictable opponent.Taskmaster, who has photo-reflexive memory which allows him to copy anyone's fighting skills by observation, was unable to defeat Deadpool due to his chaotic and improvised fighting style.[59] 
Taskmaster has also stated that Deadpool is an expert at distracting his opponents.[59] 
The character, known for his talkative nature, has been nicknamed the "Merc with a Mouth".[60] 
Deadpool has a strong sense of core morality;[dubious ] in Uncanny X-Force, he storms out after Wolverine tries to rationalize Fantomex killing Apocalypse, who was at the time in a child form. After Wolverine argues that Deadpool is motivated solely by money, Archangel reveals that Deadpool never cashed any of his checks.[61]

Sexual orientation 
In December 2013, Deadpool was confirmed as being omnisexual by Deadpool writer Gerry Dugan via Twitter.[62] When asked about Deadpool's sexuality, co-creator Fabian Nicieza stated, "Deadpool is whatever sexual inclination his brain tells him he is in THAT moment. And then the moment passes."[63] Nicieza has also stated, "Not trying to be dismissive, but readers always want to 'make a character their own' and often that is to the exclusion of what the character might mean to other fans. I've been dogged with the DP sexuality questions for YEARS. It is a bit tiring. He is NO sex and ALL sexes. He is yours and everyone else's. So not dismissive, but rather the epitome of inclusive."[64] 

So basically aside from his accelerated Wolverine-like healing ability Deadpool is like no other superhero or antihero. Also no other character breaks the fourth wall with such regularity or has shown up in so many other titles (I think), made fun of himself and everyone else, tried to kill everyone else in every variation/storyline or himself and has unusual versions of himself. So you sort of can guess that you shouldn't take this character seriously.

This is what they did to him in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Shut the one thing that gave him the nickname Merc with the Mouth. ©20th Century Fox

Starring Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool, it's his second time playing the character after first taking on the role in the 2009 X-Men Origins: Wolverine film. Fans loved him as Deadpool but didn't like what the film makers did with the character. Actually fans weren't over the moon about the whole movie. In that film Deadpool came about as an experiment to turn Wade Wilson into a super mutant by putting in him the mutant genes and abilities of quite a few mutants including Wolverine's. They also gave him swords that would pop out of his knuckles like Wolverine's claws and sewed his mouth shut. Not the Deadpool that fans recognized at all and most definitely not the Merc with the Mouth.

But the idea of Reynolds playing Deadpool came even before that apparently, according to the IMDB Trivia page for Deadpool Reynolds's himself has been lobbying to have the movie made with him as Deadpool since 2005. Fun fact Ryan Reynolds has played more comic book characters than anyone else, he was previously Marvel's Hannibal in Blade: Trinity (2004), Wade Wilson in X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009), Hal Jordan in DC's Green Lantern (2011) and Nick Walker in Dark Horse's R.I.P.D. (2013).

Directed by Tim Miller, Deadpool marks his first film as director. Deadpool was written by Rob Liefeld and Fabian Nicieza who are the creators of the character with help by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick. This is probably one of the few comic book movies that's had the original creators input so intrinsic to the actual realisation of the film. And I think I just recently read somewhere that one of them saying that the film is the most honest adaptation of the comic book character. 

That's Colossus and Negasonic Teenage Warhead, they're trying to recruit Deadpool. ©20th Century Fox

Did I like it?

Yes I did. Did I love it? A little. The story is quite simple to follow, a simple revenge story of sorts twisted around a love story. 

Here's what I like

1. Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool. He is Deadpool. I can't imagine anyone else. In fact the comic book character has even referred to himself as a little like Ryan Reynolds.

2. The script/dialogue. Just hilarious and self deprecating. And breaking the fourth wall was done very well indeed.

3. Loved the references to all the other Marvel films, Ryan Reynolds's own appearances in other films and pop culture references. Although one was a clear miss with my crowd of cinema-goers, the one where he references Yakov Smirnoff and the Spin Doctors.

4. Camerawork and visual effects. Very creative in some places especially in the opening credits.

5. Editing. Very nicely done. Very fluid pacing. Although at some points quite rough the most notable for me was Colossus, if you've seen it you'll know what I mean.

6. The music. Not bad. Not intrusive yet brings something to the scene and lends itself to learning more about Deadpool/Wade Wilson's character.

This sorts of says a lot about Deadpool. ©20th Century Fox

All in all this was a fun movie and a good first try for Tim Miller. You can still see moments where his inexperience shows but they're inconsequential to the enjoyment of the film. The story could be better but this being a comic book movie and it being a Deadpool movie better could mean anything. That being said the most important thing about this movie and whether it succeeds or not is the main character and bringing everything that fans loved about him to the big screen as faithfully as possible. And based on my brief research into the character I think they've done a pretty amazing job and based on my brief reading of the reviews the hardcore fans loved it. 

When I walked out of the cinema a thought came into my mind. Deadpool is the Airplane!, the Monty Python and the Hot Shots! of the Marvel world. Something that you shouldn't take too seriously but also something that isn't so easily duplicated or replicated without the right people behind it. Deadpool exists in all the Marvel timelines and is aware of everything including us and our world. He's a bridge between us and the Marvel universe in a way. Not appreciating that and not understanding that makes it a lot harder to bring him to life on the big screen but fortunately for us that didn't happen. This is the Deadpool movie that fans have been waiting for and not since Hugh Jackman was cast as Wolverine has an actor been more perfectly cast for the comic book character. 

Customary hero shot except that it doesn't lead to a fight. ©20th Century Fox

I really enjoyed Deadpool flaws and all and I think it's worth a second watch just to catch the jokes I missed. I'm giving Deadpool a solid 3.8 out of 5.

Check out the trailer below. It's the Red Band Trailer so makes sure kids aren't around. 



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