Deadpool!!

The comic movie season begins with Deadpool! Let me just say that the other movies have a lot to live up to because this movie was fantastic.

Normally I would spend a paragraph talking about what a Deadpool fan I am and how I've been buying his series off and on for the past fifteen years. I recently stopped because it reached a point of critical mass and the character had become a parody of a parody of a parody of himself. He's become a complete buffoon. Funny, sure, but he borderline obnoxious now.

That is why I am happy that the movie pulled back on that a lot. He still has his quips, but gone are the ridiculous scenarios where he gets various body parts chopped off because he can. He is practically a Looney Tunes character.

Anyways, where was I? Oh right, this movie is really good.

Now comes the specifics. My biggest worry is that this movie would play like a live action cartoon. Although they do go over the top with some of the violence, they showed tremendous restraint in not going too far. The ridiculousness was really saved for the freeway scene which pops in and out of the movie.

Speaking of that freeway scene, I liked how this movie cut back and forth between present day and his origin story. This mixed it up so you don't have to sit through an origin before you get to the stuff you really want to see. I'm okay with this non-linear kind of story telling.

What I also liked is that the big action set pieces bookend the origin stuff in the middle. This movie wasn't all action and actually slowed down to really show you what Wade Wilson went through to become Deadpool. At the heart of this movie, there is a love story that does play out.

Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool is the most dead-on casting I've seen in a super hero since Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark. What is also readily apparent is you can see how much fun he had playing this character. It also speaks volumes he tried so hard for so long to get this movie made. That earns him many brownie points. In between the constant quips as Deadpool, he does show some range with how he is before he becomes Deadpool too. Even though his a not so nice person to begin with, you do feel for him and root for him. I think that hinges on the infinite amount of charm that Reynolds brings.

I'll wrap up by saying the humor in this movie is top notch. Just take a look at the opening credits. A lot of humor is pretty meta and that's what adds to the appeal. Shots are taken at the tragic super hero movies of the past that Reynolds was a part of. The fact that they would go there speaks volumes. There are also fourth wall breaking jabs at the budget of the movie, events happening in the movie itself (the Deadpool rap song) and continuity issues with the X-Men franchise as well.

This movie is completely satisfying and it is very much a hard R rating. It will hold up to subsequent viewings, where more jokes may be discovered. Also, knowing that there was a lot of ad-libbing going on, I can only imagine what ended up on the cutting room floor. Hopefully a bulk of it makes it's way into an uncut DVD release.