Movie Review: Deadpool *Very Minor Spoilers*

Ryan Reynolds may have only starred in one Deadpool movie to date but, in my opinion, he's already reached Hugh Jackman's status for Wolverine in that it's hard to imagine anyone else playing Deadpool. Thanks largely to all the promotional publicity shorts and TV spots Ryan's been doing backed up by a film that delivers on its promise.

The 2016 movie Deadpool is pretty much what I hoped it would be in terms of how Ryan plays the character and how it's funny, self aware humor and fourth wall breaking conversation works so well without ever falling into being a parody of superhero movies.



I'm not a Deadpool comic reader, in fact I've mentioned many times that I've never really read superhero comic books that much at all. So I don't know how accurate this version of Deadpool is to the comic book version but I do know, Fox Studios has finally got a superhero character that's cooler than Tony Stark whilst still having one foot set in the world of dirt and grime that us non billionaires can recognize.

I first took interest in Deadpool as a character around the time Ryan played him in X-men Origins: Wolverine and fans took offence to that version which removed his ability to speak. The more I learned about what the character really was about the more I knew Ryan Reynolds was the perfect actor for the role if they'd just give him a proper go at letting him portray what the character should be.

Obligatory mention of the leaked test footage here. Studio green lights the film after years of saying 'No'.

An 'R' rated superhero movie has always seemed like a risk but thank goodness Fox finally came around. The world was definitely ready for a superhero movie you don't have to sit through with a cinema half full of PG-13'ers. Childish humor, grown up style. Brilliant. Deadpool didn't need to be 'R' rated but I bet Stan Lee read the script and really campaigned hard for it (you'll understand when you see his cameo. He's never going to get a cameo like that in any other Marvel movie).

So I haven't really said much about the movie yet? Honestly you don't need to know anything going in. It's an origin story, told through a really cool series of flashbacks, as a major action scene plays out before your eyes. You're never waiting to see Deadpool on screen, he's there, in the thick of things right from the very cool opening titles.

What's also cool is that there's no Deadpool saves the city, world or universe cliche plot line. Instead it goes for the much smaller Deadpool saves the girl cliche, which is fine as I'm pretty sure the first three Spiderman movies had finished using it.

The important thing here is, so long as the story is good enough and told well (and it is on both accounts), you're really going to see Deadpool be Deadpool. That's what makes this film unique. There's just so much fun to be had with a character that not only knows he's in a movie but also talks to the audience and has access to jokes that no other character can reference. Jokes that only you the viewer find funny because you're in on the secret that Deadpool knows he's in a movie.

Ryan Reynolds is so good as Deadpool I really think that Fox could save it's Fantastic Four franchise by including their new team of FF actors in the next Deadpool movie and just have Ryan make fun of them periodically for the short comings of their reboot movie.

Personally I think Deadpool is among the best of the Marvel Superhero movies released by Fox Studios. I'd even rank it among the top Marvel films produced by Marvel/Disney themselves.

In many ways Deadpool is what Sony tried to make Spiderman in their second reboot. A quipping, funny but ultimately cool and relate-able superhero. Unfortunately Andrew Garfield's Spiderman just came across as an arrogant teen where as Ryan Reynolds Deadpool is also arrogant but has the life experience and cynicism to balance it out, making him more of a likable asshole than an arrogant prick.

I never once found myself wanting to slap Deadpool like I did Garfield's Spiderman every time he opened his smart little mouth.

To sum up, there are other characters in this movie. All played really well, and many cool in their own right. I'd particularly love to see more of Deadpool reluctantly teamed with Negasonic Teenage Warhead (Brianna Hildebrand) so she can continue to pick him up on his out dated references.

However, all that really matters is that you come out of this movie entertained and liking Deadpool. I'm pretty sure you will if you enjoy superhero movies. You don't even need to understand or pick up on all the references and Easter Eggs to have a good time.