Superhero films are generally pretty good (unless they’re really bad – I’m looking at you, Spiderman 3 and Fantastic Four), but with so many of them around it can be hard to be original. Deadpool throws the usual globe to the side and instead opts for a much more personal plotline, which makes it a refreshing film to see.
Starring Ryan Reynolds as Wade Wilson, the film sees Wade discover he’s got cancer just as everything in his life is going right. He discovers an opportunity to cure it with the help of a mysterious suited man, but the experiment goes rather wrong after not so nice scientist Ajax (Ed Skrein) subjects him to hours of torture that eventually disfigures him, but also leaves him with super-fast healing powers. After abandoning his past life Wade creates the alter-ego Deadpool and goes on a mission to track down Ajax, and save his girlfriend, Vanessa (Morena Baccarin). As Deadpool says himself, it is technically a love story – just one coated in gore, violence, and crude jokes.
Deadpool was massively hyped up with a great trailer, and luckily it still hit the mark. Ryan Reynolds was born to play Deadpool, and he was a great character that, despite his frequently inappropriate sense of humour, was one you just wanted to root for. Deadpool really is a different kind of superhero, and this came across perfectly throughout the film. The supporting cast were really good as well – Colossus (Stefan Kapicic) and Negasonic Teenage Warhead (Brianna Hildebrand) made a great, if rather quirky, team alongside Deadpool, and Wade’s bartender friend Weasel (T. J. Miller) was really funny, and should have been featured more. The only problem I had with the characters was the development of the villains – Ed Skrein played an awesome Ajax, but he just wasn’t developed enough, and there was so little back-story on his accomplice Angel Dust (Gina Carano) that she probably could have been cut out of the script entirely and the film wouldn’t have been missing out on anything.
The special effects were great on the film, with one of the funniest and most visually satisfying introductions I’ve ever seen at the start of superhero movie. What I loved most about it all was the way Reynolds constantly broke the fourth wall for humorous effect – there were several self-deprecating jokes about Green Lantern (also acted by Ryan Reynolds) which were a hilarious addition to the comedy. The humour was definitely fearless, although there was only one joke in the entire film that I thought was maybe going a bit too far, and so I felt that as a whole the film had got the level of comedy just about right.
Something I wasn’t expecting was the level of emotion throughout the film – it didn’t happen much, but when it did it actually got quite intense. This was quite a nice breather from the constant scenes of either mass humour or mass violence, and helped the viewer to connect with Deadpool. Having such a personal issue to deal with made a nice change from the usual ‘the world is ending so I need to do something’ plot that often features in a superhero movie, and it was also a lot easier to relate to.
If you’re not a fan of violence, gore, swearing, nudity, sex scenes, insensitive jokes, or just badass in general then this isn’t the film for you – if you’re cool with all of the above, then Deadpool is a must-watch.
Deadpool gets a 4/5.
★★★★☆
Hannah Read
Deadpool at CeX
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