‘Deadpool’ — Fox finally makes a good X-Men movie
Wade / Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) and Vanessa (Morena Baccarin) discuss their favorite Broadway productions in “Deadpool”
Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) just hanging out in “Deadpool”
Brianna Hildebrand stars as Negasonic Teenage Warhead in “Deadpool”
Weasel (T.J. Miller) get s a lift from Angel Dust (Gina Carano) in “Deadpool”
I won’t bury the lead: go see “Deadpool.”
Its history is already the stuff of legend. Displeased with how Deadpool was portrayed in the laughable “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” spin-off in 2009, star Ryan Reynolds talked up a Deadpool stand-alone flick done right. Eventually some like-minded writers (Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick) tooled with scripts for years. This got the attention of Deadpool fan Tim Miller – mainly an animator and visual effects guy – to make a few minutes of test footage featuring a fully CGI Deadpool with Reynolds’ voice.
After this failed to convince the dopes at 20th Century Fox to greenlight the film, that test footage was “leaked” to the Internet, where it garnered a heap of support. Finally Fox relented, and even put Miller in charge as a first-time director.
But collaboration was the order of the day on set, with actors encouraged to improvise, and Reynolds working hand in red glove with writers Reese and Wernick on a fast-paced 48-day shoot.
And that energy is all over the final product, “Deadpool,” the best movie in the X-Men franchise. This is also the first X-Men film to receive a well-deserved R-rating.
This is how comic book movies should be made. Not all of them being R-rated or even like “Deadpool,” mind you, but made with the source material in mind. Sure, the writers had to parse some history and take creative license here and there since they’re dealing with years of source material. But the spirit of the character is there, and the idea to simply bring the comic to life in every way possible is what makes this flick work and stand apart from virtually every other superhero movie you’ve seen.
But hear this: if you like your comic book flicks fun and uplifting, this isn’t for you. It’s rated R for strong violence and language throughout, sexual content and graphic nudity, just as it should be for a Deadpool movie. I hope the eventual home-release is unrated.
But if you don’t consider yourself a prude or faint of heart, then you’ll enjoy this thrill ride from the opening titles to last stinger after the credits. Everything just works: from the opening music to the closing beat, skewering every comic book cliché you know and dropping multiple pop cultural references. We finally get a comic book movie that revels in its own history and just depicts it on screen. These guys make a movie for the fans because they’re fans themselves, and they know what we’ve all known — that we don’t want some director’s version of our beloved comics — we just want our favorite comics portrayed lovingly and faithfully in a different medium.
CRITIC’S RATING: Three and a half stars
MPAA RATING: R for strong violence and language throughout, sexual content and graphic nudity. 108 minutes.
STARRING: Ryan Reynolds, Ed Skrein, Stefan Kapicic (voice), Style Dayne, T.J. Miller, Gina Carano
BEHIND THE SCENES: Directed by Tim Miller. Written by Rob Liefeld (character), Fabian Nicieza (character), Rhett Reese (screenplay) and Paul Wernick (screenplay).
TRIVIA FROM IMDb:
• The Deadpool costume had a muscle layer underneath, that had to be removed because Ryan Reynolds was so muscular the costume was not only too tight for him but it made him look overlarge.
• Ryan Reynolds has said that Deadpool will be the last comic book character he will ever portray. However, he is open to Deadpool sequels and/or cameos.
And Miller, Reynolds, Reese and Wernick do just that: what made Deadpool a different character and comic from the rest is front and center in his movie: his language, his adolescent humor, his penchant for talking directly to his audience (he is the Merc with the Mouth, after all). And, of course, the violence. I daresay “Deadpool” is as violent as it is funny, and it’s pretty dang funny, as evidenced by its viral and counter-intuitive marketing campaign for Valentine’s Day weekend.
We also finally get a good Colossus (a CGI character voiced by Stefan Kapicic), although he could still be bigger, particularly in his shoulders. Also, apparently making his lips match his speech is a tough job.
Some of the pop culture references are forced, but most land well. But the music is well-chosen throughout, and the fourth-wall protrusions are on a multi-layered meta-level that fans and critics of comic book movies should enjoy, since no subject is off-limits. The atmosphere in which the film was created is even reflected in the opening titles.
I hope studios in general (and Fox specifically) learn well the lesson “Deadpool” has to offer: just give us what we want. Take the classic storylines from our beloved comics featuring our favorite characters and just put them up on the screen as is – I don’t want to see some studio-head’s focus-grouped interpretation of what they think will “work.” We already know what works — that’s why we’ve been reading these titles since we were kids.
Dp1 – Wade / Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) and Vanessa (Morena Baccarin) discuss their favorite Broadway productions in “Deadpool”