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Deadpool (A.K.A. A Ryan Reynolds film worth seeing more than once.)

Deadpool (A.K.A. A Ryan Reynolds film worth seeing more than once.) published on

I’ve previously detailed why Deadpool is make or break for Ryan Reynolds, here, at least in terms of comic book related films and for the most part this film delivers.

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IMAX Poster

The film seems to revel in the 80s/90s action clichés with the ‘hero’ done wrong by a shady agency and sets out to seek revenge. In this instance the ‘hero’ is a former soldier who upon learning he has terminal cancer is approached by said shady agency with the promise of a cure. This obviously doesn’t go well and through the course of some very aggressive treatments Wilson’s cancer spreads breaking out in tumours over his whole body but with the side effect of activating his dormant mutant genes giving him Wolverine Esq. healing/regeneration powers. With the promise of a cure Wade in the guise of his alter ego Deadpool literally carves his way up the organisations food chain to Francis, a.k.a. Ajax, played by Ed Skrein last seen in The Transporter Refueled (2015) the one without Jason Statham, who had alluded to a cure for Wade’s “testicle with teeth” appearance before he had believed he had killed Wade.

For myself it’s a film that doesn’t quite work it has its highlights and when it works it does so really well but when it doesn’t it only marginally fails, there are no major moments of disaster in this film.deadpool-nervous

Firstly this isn’t Deadpool from X-Men Origins: Wolverine, a film that has largely been wiped from continuity, and at which this film takes more than a couple of swipes.

Secondly, the fourth wall is well and truly broken, even a little molested at times. However never more than is necessary and never to the point that the plot, what there is, nor the film suffers.

Thirdly, Ryan Reynolds. This is the perfect role for the motor-mouthed gob-shit who lets face it is never going to win an Oscar. Something that the film acknowledges during a meta-moment when Wade name drops Reynolds and questions his acting chops and reliance upon his looks.

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Valentine’s Parody Poster

Fourthly, Morena Baccarin, who might just be the films secret weapon as Wades equally foulmouthed ex-hooker girl-friend. One a couple of occasions she really cuts loose with the profanity even if she is reduced to a damsel in distress by the final act. It’s a far cry from her roles in Gotham or Firefly.

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This man needs no introduction.

And finally this features the best Stan Lee cameo ever, even if he did have fuck all to do with Deadpools creation.

Where it doesn’t work are only minor grips and most certainly personal ones, which I doubt will be shared by many given the films continuingly impressive box office haul.

The plot, or at least the non-linear timeline, the back and forth from present to past and back again seems to cover over the cracks in the narrative and the passage of time is something we have to accept from a line of dialogue or the obligatory costume making montage.

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Gina Carano as Angel Dust

I also found the villains to be underwritten with the previously mentioned Ajax and his sidekick/muscle Angel Dust, played by the formidable Gina Carano, feel underwritten and lacking in motive. Their curing cancer patients by bringing out their dormant mutant genes to then sell them as slaves.

Carano beyond her climactic fight with Colossus is given very little to do which is a shame given her performance in Haywire (2011), like Reynolds she’s never going to trouble the Oscar voters but I’d hate for her to end up doing nothing but generic action films.

Speaking of Colossus, I definitely have issue with the character being pretty much 100% CGI and can understand why Daniel Cudmore chose to not return to the role where he’d be the body but not the voice of a character he’d played three times already.

Negasonic Teenage Warhead, aside from a cool name which Deadpool acknowledges, is given little more to do in the film than we have seem in the trailers. Brianna Hildebrand certainly holds her own as a moody teen and I hope the character returns, be it either Deadpool 2 or any future films in the X-Men franchise.

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Brianna Hildebrand as Negasonic Teenage Warhead

On the whole there is a great deal to recommend this film, it gets plenty of laughs and is a solid action film that certainly earns its 15 certificate, an R rating in North America. I have to be honest and say that I’ve never read a Deadpool comic so I have no idea how faithful this is to the 25 years of comic back story. I do know this is a damn sight better than the characters previous appearance but the films off centre position in the X-Men Universes continuity is both a blessing and a curse.

Fox obviously want to exploit the Marvel properties it has following the Days Of Future Past soft reboot but dependent upon how the upcoming Apocalypse and the in-development Wolverine 3 along with any future films in the franchise effect this new continuity remains to be seen. I do hope however that Deadpool is brought into the fold as it were as I look forward to some fourth wall breakage about his inability to ‘Shish kebab’ villains due to studio interference in much the same way that Deadpool comments upon the lack of X-Men due to the films small budget. Deadpool cost $58m in comparison to Days Of Future Past’ $200m or even the first X-Men film which had a $75m budget back in 2000.

I’m looking forward to Deadpool 2, how often do people say they are looking forward to a Ryan Reynolds film, and hopefully some questioning about Cables parentage, now that the character has been tipped to appear in the sequel.

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Original Artwork by Vulture34. (http://www.deviantart.com/art/Cable-and-Deadpool-326558547)

 

Directed by Tim Miller

Deadpool (A.K.A. Fifth times a charm for Ryan Reynolds)

Deadpool (A.K.A. Fifth times a charm for Ryan Reynolds) published on 1 Comment on Deadpool (A.K.A. Fifth times a charm for Ryan Reynolds)

Most actors have a few duds on their CVs , its inevitable, for various reasons be it the script they signed on for went through numerous changes by the time it gets to the screen or they were contractually obliged to take the role for another reason.

In the sub-genre of comic book films no one seems to have more duds on their CV than Ryan Reynolds, however when you look at his CV in general its filled with many unremarkable films. The 2005 remake of The Amityville Horror or comedies like Waiting… or Just Friends, both also released in 2005, to name a few. But it is with comic book films that he has truly excelled in picking dud films.

Blade: Trinity
2004 gave us Blade: Trinity, which following hot on the heels of 2002’s Blade 2 must have looked like a sure fire hit after it had made $82 million worldwide, the third is unloved by pretty much everyone. Personally it’s a mess, tonally it switches between horror and comedy in the same scene leaving the film uneven and Blade is reduced to a supporting character in his own film. Whilst Reynolds equips himself admirably with the action, the blasé attitude his character exhibits has been done hundreds of times before.

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X-Men Origins: Wolverine followed in 2009, a film that so poorly handled Deadpool and the majority of the other characters in the film that it killed Fox’s planned X-Men Origins: Magneto film. Luckily we got X-Men: First Class out of the ashes of that debacle so in the end the audience won. But not before we were treated to a bastardised muted interpretation of Deadpool, referred to as Weapon XI, that in the final act wasn’t even played by Reynolds.

In 2011 we got Green Lantern with its CGI suit and well CGI everything else. A film so poorly received that even though it made $116 million its director Martin Campbell hasn’t directed a feature film since, this is a man who gave us two of the best modern day Bonds, GoldenEye and Casino Royale but his career has been reduced to TV work, and sadly not even high quality TV material. Whilst any proposed Green Lantern sequel was canned with the next time we see the Green Lantern it wont be a solo feature and it wont be until 2020 when he’s part of the Green Lantern Corps.

Green Lantern

R.I.P.D.

Keeping up the trend of a crap comic book movie every couple of years saw Reynolds starring in R.I.P.D. with Jeff Bridges as two after-life Police officers, so basically its Men In Black with ghosts instead of aliens. Everybody seems to be having a great time, especially Bridges as a Wild West Lawman but the plot concerning the end of the world or something is just nonsense. By the end your brain has given up, packed its bags and said ‘screw this’. Which is exactly the same as the films audience, on a budget of $130 million, the film made back a paltry $33.5 million at the US box-office.

So where does that leave Deadpool? Following the ‘leak’ of some test footage that had been shot to try to convince the studio to produce an actual feature proved so popular with the public that Fox green-lit a full feature. Hopes are high for the film which will have an R rating, in North America, though its rating in the UK is still unconfirmed and could be anything from a 15 to an 18 certificate. Following the release of the trailer, which although light on swearing, featured numerous amounts of blood letting and gun play along with the appearance of Colossus and the awesomely named Negasonic Teenage Warhead. Following the debacle of the characters handling in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, it is certainly hoped that the now altered timeline, following the events of X-Men: Days of Future Past, will provide us with a Deadpool worthy of the name. Even if we are to get a Rob Liefeld cameo in the process.

Deadpool

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