Movie Review: Deadpool – The Merc Puts The Money Where His Mouth Is

Image Credit: 20th Century Fox

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has built its reputation on well-written, well-acted blockbuster films that are both entertaining and serious, while elevating the “comic book superhero movie” to something just a little more. With Deadpool, Marvel deviates from that formula with a film about a decidedly not heroic mercenary with a foul mouth, a love of ultra violence, a sharp self-awareness and it is absolute gold.

The plot of the film is fairly straightforward: Wade Wilson is an amoral mercenary with a warped good-guy side who protects young women from their sketchy boyfriends and other questionable characters. He lives a pretty simple life within his subculture of violence and drinking, finding love with another seemingly damaged outsider. His life is pretty much perfect for him until he discovers he has terminal cancer. Wilson abandons his love and his life in an attempt to be cured of his disease only for the cure to completely change his life. Unable to go back home as he now is, Wilson becomes the anti-hero Deadpool and sets off on a quest to exact revenge on (and be repaired by) the man who cured him at the cost of his life. Mayhem ensues and while the film is jokingly billed as a love story, it actually turns out to be just that and more. Somewhere along the way the story turns into one of self-acceptance.

Deadpool is not a family-friendly film. From the very opening credits the film is crude and crass. The cursing is liberally applied, as is nudity and sex scenes. Many of the fight scenes include borderline gore. The film is wall-to-wall adult content, but that’s what makes it so much fun. There is so much over-the-top crazy that you have to laugh. The brilliant, witty dialogue and self-mocking makes it easy to let go of the otherwise seriousness of what the film’s protagonist, Wade Wilson (the eponymous Deadpool), is doing.

The film is largely carried by its star, Ryan Reynolds in the role he was born to play. Reynolds is high energy and eager as Wilson. He effortlessly seems to merge with the character and so deeply inhabits Deadpool that he all but leaps off the screen. That isn’t to say that Reynolds is the only stand out though. Morena Baccarin shows great wit and range as Wilson’s girlfriend, Vanessa. Baccarin brings great strength and nuance to the character, a woman who could easily be trapped as the cliche of a troubled woman involved with questionable men. Instead, Vanessa is a strong character in her own right even as she balances out the ridiculousness of Deadpool.

Balance is actually something this film does surprisingly well. While Reynolds’ Deadpool is all about gleeful killing and vulgarity, the three female characters in the film (Baccarin’s Vanessa, Gina Carano as Angel Dust and Brianna Hildebrand as Negasonic Teenage Warhead) do an excellent job handling themselves. The ladies carry their own weight throughout and, in varying capacities, each even manages to best or save the male characters without their strength being explicitly pointed out. They aren’t “strong female characters” so much as they are strong characters who happen to be female.

The only wrong note Deadpool hits is the heavy-handed attempt at establishing Deadpool as a future component of the X-Men. The character Colossus is a great visual addition to the film (the CGI that went into the character truly looks fantastic on the big screen) but all of the character’s dialogue is devoted to almost beating Wilson over the head with the idea of becoming a hero. Colossus makes his point early on in the film; endlessly going on about heroics is not only unnecessary, but almost annoying both for the main character and the audience.

Irreverent, fun, and yet carefully and seriously crafted, Deadpool is quite possibly the best film to come out of Marvel Studios to date. This is one you absolutely want to catch in the theater, just remember to keep the kids at home.

Did you watch Deadpool this weekend? Tell us what you think in the comments!