Deadpool Review

By: Nathaniel Patton

Grade: A

Deadpool is arguably the most popular comic book character to never be in a movie or TV show, he has accumulated a cult-like following with many die-hard fans, and Fox even teased fans with a glimpse of a Ryan Reynolds Deadpool in Wolverine: Origins. After all of this, Fox crushed our dreams of a full-length Deadpool movie. That was until a test screening of a clip from the film was leaked online. After the immense amount of positive feedback and support from fans, Fox eventually green lit the film. On top of that, they cast the fans’ dream casting of Ryan Reynolds. And on top of THAT, they slapped a big R-rating onto it so they can really capture the essence of the character in his true form and not a diluted, censored version of Deadpool.
While that is all from a general point of view, I am and have been a huge comic book fan for over a decade. I’ve been reading comic books since before I fully understood them. And Deadpool, the merc with a mouth, has remained one of my favorite comic book characters for much of that time. His fourth-wall breaks, his crude humor, the absurd situations that he gets himself into, and, of course, his perfect combination between he and Cable have entertained me for years. This is a movie that I’ve been waiting to see since I saw Deadpool in Wolverine: Origins all the way back in 2009. I have been waiting 7 years to see this full-length movie. All of the above has just gone to show how high my expectations were for this movie. It’s been a long time in the making and it took a lot of fan support, so fans, myself included, reasonably have a high expectation for this film.
But even though my expectations were through the roof for this film, they somehow managed to still be exceeded. Now it’s time to breakdown why. First, I’ll start with the jokes, which are arguably one of the most important aspects about the character. This movie had me full-out cackling at many points throughout. And it wasn’t just a singular style of humor, either. They used situational comedy, one-liners, visual gags, and just some good old-fashioned jokes. Don’t get me wrong; this movie went for the “shotgun” joke effect where they threw out a lot of jokes and most of them hit. There were some real duds in the bunch, but the jokes, overall, were very good.
Next has to be the costume and character. Before we even think about delving into the realm of Ryan Reynolds and what he does under that suit, I just want to talk about the suit. It was perfect. That is seriously all one can say. It had the snuggly-fit of the suit in the comics, has some very good detail with the materials used, and you could haven see the mask move not only with his speaking, but also when he would gasp or breathe heavily. And they used CGI on the eyes to get them to move accordingly and the turnout was phenomenal. Now it’s time to talk about the man under the red suit (and yes, ladies and gentlemen, the man behind the bulge), Ryan Reynolds. While he has been in 3 other superhero movies, this is the role that he was born to play. He was alright in Blade: Trinity and he did good in the poorly-written Green Lantern. However, Ryan Reynolds doesn’t play Deadpool. Ryan Reynolds is simply the embodiment of Deadpool. There is not enough praise that I can give to him for how well he portrayed this very complex and difficult character.
Furthermore, the story was good. While it did deviate from the source material slightly, they managed to separate him from the Weapon X story line and those “wonderful” X-Men movies. It had some love story elements, tons of action, and lots of comedy. While the story may have been the weakest part of the movie as a whole, it doesn’t hurt the film at all. By “weakest part of the movie,” I mean exactly that. It isn’t bad, but just the most flawed part of the film.
Overall, this film is one of the most entertaining superhero movies to come out since Marvel’s Cinematic Universe took over. This movie is going to be very enjoyable to people who have no familiar relationship or history with the character. However, very loyal and dedicated fans of Wade Wilson will be more than satisfied with this movie. From the very obscure, off-the-wall references, to the violence, to the usual ass-hattery, this movie is everything one could want in a Deadpool movie. An R-rated romp that is more entertaining than many recent films. This is my favorite movie of the year so far and will probably remain my favorite for a long time. Overall, it gets an A!