Deadpool is a movie so in love with the main character, it forgot about everything else.
At last, 20th Century Fox has produced the big-budget Deadpool, an R-rated superhero movie that Marvel fans wished for. This movie shouldn’t exist, not the least of which because it features a crass cult-favorite superhero at a time when superheroes are toys at the Disney Store. And for many that’s a plus, because that’s simply who Deadpool is: He’s arrogant, gross, sarcastic, constantly breaks the fourth-wall, and revels in murder and mayhem. He’s a symbol of a lot of what comic books did wrong in the 1990s, and miraculously survived through the new millennium to keep the audience he enjoys today. If only that audience had higher standards.
I’ll count myself among that audience: I too love Deadpool and wanted this movie ever since the maligned X-Men Origins: Wolverine left me cold. X-Men Origins was an offense to a lot of filmmaking, but to fandom’s sensibilities they only care about Wade Wilson. I’m happy to report that Deadpool miraculously nails its lead character almost pitch perfect, played by a Ryan Reynolds who so clearly believes in what he’s doing. His natural comedic timing coupled with his understanding of the character really makes it feel as though Wade Wilson made the leap from the comic book page. Reynolds also served up a bonus of crowd-pleasing abdominal muscles and a Canadian geniality that are likely the sole reasons why Fox gave the project the greenlight at all — jerk superheroes live and die by their actors, and only Reynolds could have been Deadpool. If not, this movie would have stayed in production hell.
Ryan Reynolds and Morena Baccarin in ‘Deadpool.’ The two share great chemistry that barely overcomes the averageness of their shared journey.
In fact, making Deadpool must have been hell. Deadpool works well on the comic book page because of his unique humor and fourth wall-breaking sensibilities, which is not easy to bring to screen. There’s a chance for it to go so wrong so badly, and maybe once or twice it actually does when a few jokes fall a few notes flat. But director Tim Miller — a first-time filmmaker, who began his career in CGI and video games, which you may notice in the opening credits — shows promise as an artist who can walk the tightrope between action and comedy. But he’s no Edgar Wright or Jackie Chan, masters of doing both within the same frame.
So where does Deadpool go wrong? Structure, for one. The film knows its audience so well, that it wastes no time introducing Reynolds in the costume killing dudes, but in doing so it compromises build-up, suspense, and worse, investment. Deadpool’s opening should have been crowd-pleasing, but instead it feels as empty and hollow as the CGI it’s made of. Deadpool sacrifices pacing and rhythm in exchange for an immediate rush, and as a result suffers. It adopts lengthy flashbacks in a structure that will feel familiar to fans of Arrow on the CW, in which current events are given exposition through relevant flashbacks. And I hate that about Arrow, and thus found it aggravating in Deadpool.
A fourth wall-breaking character would also point out the absolute cliches of its own film. Or so you’d think. Aside from a few jabs, Deadpool outright ignores Wade from X-Men Origins despite sharing continuity with the X-Men films (which are so broken anyway so it doesn’t matter). In Deadpool, Wade is a retired U.S. military operative haunted by a hefty 49 kills — humor is his defense mechanism. He’s now a mercenary, but only helps good people who deserve it (this is supposed to make sense) and falls in love with a hooker (Morena Baccarin, of Firefly and Homeland fame) at his favorite merc bar. After some great sex, Wade discovers he has terminal cancer and in his desperation turns to a promising but shady “superhuman” program. His “doctor” is Ajax, who looks nothing like his comic book version so there goes Deadpool being faithful to the source material I guess, and tortures Wade to disfigurement. Wade swears revenge, hoping Ajax will cure him before he can kill him.
TJ Miller and Gina Carano in ‘Deadpool.’ Carano is kept to a minimum while Miller goes all-in.
For a movie bent on self-awareness, Deadpool does nothing to address some of its own cliches. Ajax is a British villain out of every Bond film, Morena Baccarin’s Vanessa is still a damsel in distress no matter how you cut it, and like every Marvel movie a big, massive structure is seen falling in the climactic fight. Wouldn’t it have been great if Deadpool — which is technically not a Marvel movie — take actual shots at the shortcomings of the MCU, which get clearer with every passing film?
Also disappointing for Deadpool is its over-reliance on a CGI superhero. Being a more martial arts-centric superhero with a violent streak, I had hoped to see something like The Raid in Deadpool, which is perfect for the character. Though the opening sequence on the highway (which is a retake of the leaked concept trailer) is quite nasty, the final fights are less bloody or noteworthy.
Less disappointing are Deadpool‘s array of side characters. TJ Miller (Silicon Valley) is on absolute fire, while the legendary Leslie Uggams, a Tony Award-winning performer, shows she is totally game for gross shit as Blind Al, Wade’s roommate after post-Ajax. Their presence is cut a little too short, and by the end you’ll realize they almost contributed nothing except some pep talk. But at least they’re vastly entertaining all the way through. Gina Carano is fine and thankfully less talky, while Colossus and Negasonic Teenage Warhead will vary depending on one’s own familiarity with the X-Men.
Deadpool is a study in contradictions. It’s a superhero movie, but the hero is an asshole. It stars Ryan Reynolds, one of the most handsome men in the world, but his face gets shriveled like a testicle (they keep that one-liner, by the way). It’s an R-rated popcorn commercial movie, but its target audience are clearly white guys who laugh at the same bacon jokes on Reddit. It’s a movie that wants to satirize superhero cliches, but falls victim to its own (remember Yinsen in Iron Man, Tony Stark’s prison mate who dies and inspires him? Deadpool has a Yinsen too).
Ultimately, Deadpool is a dream come true, but maybe we should have asked for more.
GRADE: 3.5/5