Deadpool

Year: 2016
Directed By: Tom Miller
Written By: Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick

RYAN’S REVIEW

This movie was amazing for so many reasons. For being so clever, and being so vulgar. For proving how successful inventive marketing can be. For being a testament to perseverance by a man determined to prove something to the world. This movie goes against every rule we understand about the genre and it worked like a charm.

This is a movie clever enough to make fun of itself and its genre. From the very beginning as mock credits roll across the screen this movie sets a tone unlike any other we have ever seen. Before anything has even happened this movie immediately manages to be unique and funny. As the movie gets going it doesn’t just earn its R rating but it pushes the limit of R rating. This movie took things to a new level with its rating and it relished in all the opportunity that it presented.

This movie had such interesting marketing methods ranging from using emojis on billboards to Deadpool himself hitch hiking to Comic Con. For months the marketing for this movie was aggressive and the images were, well, weird. Deadpool provocatively laying on a bearskin rug in front of a fire. Deadpool using the toilet in a stall and reading a magazine about himself. Deadpool making a heart with his hands (the movie was  Valentine’s Day release). The emoji thing with the death head skull and a poo followed by an L. These things were so clever and really put the name of the title character on the front lines.

Ryan Reynolds was specifically embarrassed by the first rendition he portrayed of this character and he made it his personal mission to rectify that. He should have been embarrassed, we all were. Truthfully, Wolverine X-Men Origins was an overall embarrassment for everyone involved but Reynolds may have gotten the worst of it. Deadpool has a lot of serious fans and they were real pissed by the abomination Reynolds portrayed on screen under that name. Reynolds had hoped to get a solo film for the character but the response was so poor the studio decided against it. Reynolds persevered for years before secretly shooting test footage of the character and leaking it onto the internet. The response was so great that it effectively twisted the studios’ arm into green lighting the project. A couple of years later and we have this awesome film to enjoy. Thank you Ryan Reynolds for never giving up and congratulations on all your success with the project.

Ryan Reynolds’ sense of humor makes him a perfect actor to portray Deadpool who has his own unusual sense of humor and style. The mercenary type of comic character never really did it for me so I had never read any Deadpool comics before. I was aware that as a character he was self-aware and knew he was in a comic, occasionally addressing his audience directly. I thought that was interesting and the character looked cool but knew little else beyond that. I think Reynolds determination to do right by the fans after the Wolverine debacle drove the character to being so true to the comics and well received.

I love how R rated this movie is, but I do not think it is appropriate for children. When Amber and I saw this movie in the theater there were two young girls sitting behind us and that was not cool. Those little innocent kids didn’t deserve to have their minds polluted by this debauchery and no others should. As adults we should be able to have something without assholes ruining it by creating controversy. Damnit people, be responsible parents and don’t take your young children to see something that we should be able to enjoy in all our maturity as adults, without the guilt of spoiling innocence. I just don’t feel right laughing at all the sex jokes while there are two little girls my daughter’s age sitting in earshot, and it made me mad at whoever was so irresponsible to bring them to the film.

This movie changes the scope of what comic book films are able to do and I think that is awesome. It sets a precedent for success at a level that didn’t need the teenage audience. It made a ton of money with a limited market audience and more importantly it made an incredible amount of profit. I look forward to what else we might see in the future. Not since Blade have we had a comic book film about a Marvel character so satisfyingly violent and profane. This doesn’t mean we should expect anything like this from Marvel Studios. Disney will keep with its own way of doing things, which is fine, but the door is wide open now for other properties owned by Warner Brothers, Fox, and others. I would specifically love to see an R rated Batman film because the general movie going audience is so misguided about the character. Batman is not family friendly, he’s dark and he’s a violent vigilante that often has the police chasing him. We need to see a real Batman movie and despite the disaster BVS has turned out to be I still think Ben Affleck is the guy to give us the dark and R rated Batman.

In the aftermath of Deadpool’s success we are verified to see an R rated Wolverine film coming in the near future. Hugh Jackman’s final performance as the character is coming and they are pulling out all the stops this time. I was really disappointed that Jackman didn’t make an appearance in this movie but I will hold out hope for a Deadpool cameo in the final Wolverine film. The references to Jackman throughout this movie are really funny but after doing all that they owe us an actual on screen pairing of the two characters. It’s widely rumored that the final Wolverine movie will be based off of the Old Man Logan comic. I have read that comic and it is awesome but they shouldn’t base the third Wolverine movie on it. It should be an original story. Due to property rights to characters the Old Man Logan comic would leave far too many holes and come out all convoluted.

Wolverine 3 should bring back Liev Schrieber as Sabertooth, throw in a little Deadpool, and just go nuts with the opportunities of an R rated movie. They should make it a true Wolverine movie only better. I think roles for guys like Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart would be really cool. This is all wishful thinking so it doesn’t matter. Casting announcements are coming out now and beyond its R rating there is little known that isn’t a rumor.

Deadpool currently still has a box office presence but it is closing out as the second highest grossing R rated movie of all time. Second only to the Passion of the Christ by a mere $10 million. I wish so much they would re-release the movie for just one week so it could take that record. I have always found box office statistics fascinating and specifically love when a movie I enjoy so much can break records. This was the movie the studio was so reluctant to do and all its success is awesome but that number one all time record would have been the cherry on top.

As Deadpool promised in the end credits scene; there will be more to come in this franchise. I look forward to it and can’t wait to see how it turns out with what will undoubtedly be a larger budget. I think this is a great movie and would recommend it to any adult out there with a cool bone in their body. If you’re cool, you need to see this movie.

I do not think this movie is appropriate for children. Please please please spare your little ones the adult content of this movie. This is too much, like anything Trey Parker and Matt Stone do. It’s awesome, but don’t allow your kids to see it, it’s for us and they should have to wait till their old enough.