Deadpool

Plot

Wade Wilson; former Mercenary –now hires himself out to ‘help the helpless’. He falls in love with Vanessa, and no long after is diagnosed with in operatable cancer. he is given the option of a cure – but it comes with a cost – becoming a mutant. After he is ‘cured’ and becomes disfigured – but indestructible – and instantly healable. He seeks out his ‘maker’ for revenge – in the costumed character… Deadpool.

Direction

Tim Miller gives a solid direction, with some awesome action pieces. Usually I am a little harsh on directors using CGI, but when one of the characters literally CGI then my hands are tied. The action here is quick and concise, and special mention goes to the inside car fight early on with tight claustrophobic look and feel.

Cast/Characters

Let’s face it, this is the reason Ryan Reynolds was put on this earth, to play this character. There was no one else even remotely able to pull off the character of Deadpool/Wade Wilson. The film even has some heart in it that he shows his range.

Morena Baccarin gets the most to do here within the franchise (I have already reviewed DP3, and #2 is coming shortly) – she is a solid ‘second half’ to WW, and she does well.

Ed Skrein, is solid as the almost as powerful Ajax/Francis, who creates Deadpool. He is quite a fascinating villain, and while his backstory is not as fleshed out as that of the lead, he really sold it as the apathetic villain.

Screenplay/Setting/Themes

I quite enjoyed the non-linear back story of how Wade becomes Deadpool – it is done with some well written flashbacks, and even include flashbacks within the flashbacks (fourth wall break inside a fourth wall break?)

It wouldn’t be a Ryan Reynolds, or Deadpool film if there weren’t any jokes within it, and there is some about the movie itself and the cast. A few of note are that there is only two Xmen within the mansion (it’s almost like the studio couldn’t’ afford any) and about Reynolds own filmography (don’t make the uniform green)

While normally I am not the biggest fan of narration, the fairly constant Reynolds narration is needed here.

While primarily an action comedy, it also has a good amount of heart to it, and has the right blend of drama to comedy.

Score/Soundtrack

Using a mix of vintage and pop culture songs, even in the opening credits you know this was never a film that was going to take itself seriously.

Overall

A great start to the franchise, and a retcon of the character of Deadpool from the godawful earlier version.

Considering the fairly tight budget, you would be hard pressed to see – and each and every dollar was well spent.

4/5