Rarely does Biff, I mean Fox, ever get anything right. Just look at X-Men Origins: Weird Deadpool or Fantastic Four: Disappearing Facial Hair/Wig Edition; two excellent properties that they have almost or successfully run into the ground. The only reason X-Men: Days of Future Past didn’t turn into another Fox Studio crap storm was because of Bryan Singer returning to the helm. So what were we going to get from a Deadpool that looked good by all accounts, but is still owned by a bunch of nameless and inept producers. Surprisingly, we received something pretty awesome. Unfortunately, we already have more issues to worry about despite an excellent film. Here’s why Deadpool worked so well and why Hollywood will probably screw this up afterwards…
First thing first, my general impressions
It’s bloody, raunchy, vulgar, fun and hits all of the notes that a Deadpool movie should. That’s even with it being an origin story. My only real negative is that some of the plot points were a bit clunky. They were trying to fit in some moments that should have been chopped. Other than that, the majority of the film moves at an excellent pace and never bores. I was worried going into this that I would be worn out by the clips that came out before the film release. There’s plenty to laugh at through this entire thing and the trailers barely scratched the surface. The screenplay will get high marks from me for how well crafted it is. They successfully wove together a bevy of complex and multi-layered jokes and setups that probably took a considerable amount of time to craft. The dedication to the humor is readily apparent throughout the entire film and much appreciated.
Hollywood Studios Are Seeing Bloody Greenbacks Marked In Profanity
Sigh … I should have predicted such an outcome, but it’s clear that studio heads are not going to understand an isolated event when they see one. Deadpool works because it was true to it’s subject matter; we don’t need to just make movies R rated and expect that will fix a crappy plot and weakly written characters. I’ve heard rumors that the new Wolverine has been green lighted to get an R rating and I would actually be fine with that. I’m surprised that an attempt to make Ole Jackman churn out a grittier Wolverine only surfaced now, but that’s the kind of change I could get behind. But just slapping an R rated everywhere is foolish and is sure to backfire somewhere. There’s a reason the list of highly successful films higher than a PG-13 is pretty short. It’s a tall order to create a solidly crafted film that appeals to the masses and also makes a good case for it’s rating.
Ryan Reynolds GETS Deadpool
Ever since he made it his mission to right the wrong of his first go around with Deadpool, Reynolds has been slowly but surely gaining fans trust. It was a trust well placed even if we were a bit apprehensive because of previous events. We haven’t seen anyone inhabit a role quite so naturally and fluidly in a long time. This sort of reminds me of the RDJ dilemma with Iron Man: Now that RDJ has defined the role on film, who could you imagine taking that place? That’s an excellent place to be in with Deadpool because I have a hard time putting anyone else in this role. Reynolds works well with Morena Baccarin and T. J. Miller, as girlfriend, Vanessa and best friend, Weasel respectively. His banter with Vanessa as they grow together seems very genuine and unforced. Some of the funniest lines (And that’s a hard thing to judge because of how many excellent ones there are) are between Deadpool and Weasel, setting each other up or going off on their own. Their friendships plays out well on screen and it makes the humor all the more potent and interesting.
Don’t take your kids to go see this movie … Don’t take your kids to go see this movie, period!! I feel like I should say it again, but it would be overkill. Honestly, half of the dirty and complicated jokes would go right over their heads like the sexual innuendos of a Looney Tunes episode, but that’s besides the point. This film wasn’t made for them, it was created for grown adults. There’s an excellent meme floating about that says Deadpool will make a PG-13 version of the film as soon as Disney knocks out a R rated version of Frozen. I love those two parallels because of how well it highlights that asking for something that stupid shows you don’t really know the character. This goes back to Disney choosing to include Deadpool in a few of the Marvel animated series that have run on Disney XD or various outlets.
He should never have been included in those series because it gives the impression of a Deadpool who’s just a wisecracker. It’s a disservice to the character and will lead to quite the surprise for those kids who eventually figure out how vulgar and wild the real Deadpool is. It would be like Richard Pryor or George Carlin doing stand up as Saturday morning kids special. Then, when the kids try to stay up and watch the late night specials, their heads explode from all the profanity. It begs the question who booked them for the Saturday morning kids show in the first place; Disney, that’s who!!
Visual Impressive and Timelines Be Damned
From the opening scene, it was clear we were going to have a great ride and of course the film delivers. In the visual department, there was no visible dip in quality even after reports surfaced that the initial budget was trimmed down by $7 million dollars. Holy crap, are you kidding me? 7 mil? Just gone like that? It’s very impressive that they still pumped it out and kept it looking great.
The fourth wall breaks or even the breaks within a flashback of a break are superb despite the high chance you miss something on the first viewing. The various timelines of the X-Men universe are poked fun at and rightfully so; that’s a mess that Fox created and now Deadpool gets to gleefully play with it. Where this film fits within that universe is hard to say: we have a recast Colossus, a different looking Xavier school, the old school SR-71 Blackbird X-Jet, and mentions of both Xavier’s (McAvoy and Stewart) so who knows where this would accurately fit. I’m leaning towards the First Class universe after X-Men: Apocalypse, but not quite in 2000’s yet. When I have a better outline, I’ll let you know.
Overall
We received a genuine surprise and ultimately a very satisfying experience with Deadpool. The crudeness of the film is not going to bring love from everyone, but that’s okay. This was seriously a love letter film to the fans and they have responded in kind. The sad part is that Hollywood is already trying to capitalize in the wake of Pool’s success. Hopefully, when those poorly written and needlessly gory pieces of crap fail at the box office, they will see that the R rating is something that has to be earned or has to make sense. Deadpool wears this as a badge of honor; whether that’s a good or bad thing can be argued another time. The creative freedom, however, is something that can be highlighted as an essential ingredient regardless of rating. It’s the difference between receiving a Guardians of the Galaxy or Avengers: Age of Ultron. Both hit some good marks, but where they differ is in the imprint each director and creative staff were able to leave. It’s very apparent in the styling and execution of Guardians where they shine and impress. Unfortunately, it’s also apparent in key moments of Age of Ultron where Whedon is hamstrung with elements he probably would have cut if he had full control. For now, we can simply enjoy a film that hit all the right marks and could less what the studio thinks, at least until the sequel…
Deadpool 9 out of 10
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