Imagine Kick-Ass meets Ted meets Ferris Bueller’s Day Off meets Kill Bill, then you have an idea of what Deadpool is like.
From Marvel and 20th Century Fox comes the first R-rated superhero film of the decade, and the first of its kind altogether. From the humour, to the combat, to the lack of fourth-wall maintenance, Deadpool brings a whole new level of superhero film, and it was a risk that paid of significantly.
Brought into the X-Men universe comes the final antagonist of X-Men Origins: Wolverine, however this time he stays completely true to his himself and his personality. Whilst it may seem irrational and completely poor continuity to just change a characters origin, the events of the most recent instalment X-Men: Days of Future Past allowed for change in future events, such as a different (and better) Deadpool origin.
(Left: Deadpool in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Right: Deadpool in the comics, Right: Deadpool in Deadpool)
Although his story changed, Ryan Reynolds returned with the anti-hero’s humour, skills, style, swords and mouth. And whilst his representation has progressed perfectly, he hasn’t necessarily done so without first acknowledging his previous adventure. And it doesn’t stop within the X-Men universe, and that’s where the fourth wall breaking begins, it also goes on to mock Ryan Reynolds’ super-outing as the Green Lantern, and his title as ‘Sexiest Man Alive 2010’.
Not fully explained or portrayed in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds – Blade: Trinity, The Proposal) is mercenary with an extremely large mouth, and a whimsical approach to his job. Known well amongst his fellow hitmen, he encounters Vanessa (Morena Baccarin – Gotham, Homeland) a fellow hitman with a similar personality. Due to their ‘creative’ mindsets they very quickly become close and learn to value one another. Soon enough Wade is hit with the news that he has cancer in his liver, lung, prostate and brain. Unaware of what to do, Wade is approached by a secret organisation that can cure his cancer. In doing so, leader Ajax (Ed Skrein – The Transporter Refueled, Ill Manors) turned his life upside down, whilst giving him ultimate cell regeneration. With his hitman personality, Wade, now Deadpool pursues Ajax with everything he’s got and nothing held back.
As to further create superhero films, its narrative structure is refreshingly creative and works surprisingly well. Starting in the middle of the film, then returning to the beginning, then returning to the middle, then back to the beginning, then back to the middle, only to follow through to the end. The non-linear storytelling brings a new angle to the genre, which is also assisted with the breaking-of-the-fourth wall.
With Reynolds helming the lead, there really was no-one else to play the merc with a mouth. There have been only two people to play him, Reynolds and Nolan North, with North taking the voicing roles. With Reynolds’ tendency for comedic roles, the opportunity to release his darkest possible humour was more of a holiday than a job for him. Chasing this film for 11 years, he put his heart and soul into this as if it was a free project to do as he wished, and this was noticeable in his engagement with the role. If it weren’t for the fact that Deadpool perfectly resembled that of his comic counterpart, it would be easy to assume that Wade was based off of Reynolds himself.
As stated earlier, Deadpool himself and the film itself break-the-fourth-wall frequently, referring to actors, other films, the studio, real life and indeed the audience on occasion. This concept was thought to be very risky, with many questioning its effect on the film and if it would ruin the film altogether. However, those who maintained faith were ultimately rewarded as it enhanced the film beyond a point expected, where it also made the audience feel even more engaged.
The score matched as perfectly as the found music that was used within it, including the recreated hit by DMX, ‘X Gon’ Give It To Ya’, and the oddly fitting ‘Shoop’ by Salt N Pepa. The main score however was created by Tom Holkenborg, or as he is better known, Junkie XL, also responsible for the killer soundtrack that was of Mad Max: Fury Road, one of the best scores of 2015. Returning to Deadpool, the score was subtle in places, yet always effective, however the rest of the songs, including those creating the fight atmosphere not only create one with the audience trapped inside of it, but also manage to get you pumped to join in. There’s also a special rap included about the man of the hour (or 1hr 48 mins, but we’ll get onto that next), which you can listen to here (explicit lyrics warning).
As mentioned, Deadpool lasts for 1hr 48mins, one of the shortest feature length superhero films to date, with only a handful falling short of said time. However this is not a problem whatsoever as it is barely noticeable due it being packed with jokes, jumping time-frames, fight scenes and broken fourth-walls.
Overall, Deadpool is a refreshing take on a consistently growing genre, but does so without betraying its source material (looking at you X-Men Origins: Wolverine). The humour is mature yet beautifully immature at the same time, brings a more realistic combat mechanism to the big screen and allows you to forget the rules of cinema for a while and just enjoy yourself. Oh, and you might want to know that Deadpool loves chimichangas!
8.2/10
nerdscreen 