Deadpool (2016), directed by Tim Miller, stars Ryan Reynolds, Morena Baccarin, Ed Skeirn, T.J. Miller, Brianna Hildebrand, Stefan Kapicic, Karan Soni, Gina Carano, and Jed Rees. The film follows Wade Wilson (Reynolds), a wise-cracking assassin/mercenary who one day meets the love of his life, Vanessa (Baccarin). All is going well until Wade is suddenly diagnosed with terminal cancer. In a desperate effort to save his own life, Wade agrees to undergo a mysterious treatment that will supposedly provide him with superhuman abilities. Although the treatment succeeds in providing Wade with mutant powers, it also leaves him hideously scarred and mentally traumatized. This is due to the project’s mastermind, Ajax (Skeirn) eventually revealing himself as a sadist who intends to keep Wade as a prisoner he can experiment on. When Wade inevitably escapes, he vows to take revenge on Ajax by adopting the alias of the anti-hero: Deadpool. However, he soon learns that Ajax has kidnapped Vanessa, making the stakes far more personal than he could have imagined. With the help of two X-Men, Colossus (Kapicic) and Negasonic Teenage Warhead (Hildebrand), Deadpool sets out to save his true love, get some sweet payback, and maybe learn a thing or two about being a hero. 

Ryan Reynolds’ performance as the title character is mostly what carries the film, and although I feel as if his comedic sensibilities will work for a majority of audiences, I still think there’s a large portion of viewers who will find him a bit tiresomely juvenile. Even so, Reynolds provides a strong sense of comedic timing which is even more impressive considering that his face is covered for at least two-thirds of the movie. The special effects team does a seamless job of animating the eyes of Deadpool’s mask. It allows for a certain level of expression that superhero films rarely provide for their masked protagonists. It also feels more necessary to the character of Deadpool specifically in the sense that his comedic sensibilities constantly require a certain level of animated expression for them to truly work. 

Ed Skeirn as the film’s villain feels like a real missed opportunity in the sense that he is essentially the polar opposite of Deadpool but it never leads to anything particularly interesting. The script doesn’t provide the characters with any good back-and-forths, leading their relationship/rivalry to feel a bit vanilla. On top of this, his unique powers are not once taken advantage of, coming across merely as an afterthought. 

I think this is partly due to the fact that because Deadpool is such a random and over-the-top character, every character ends up feeling like a foil in one way or another (whether intended or not). This cheapens the impact of characters that are actually meant to foil Deadpool in more thematic ways. 

The film’s juxtaposition of bloody violence and juvenile silliness won’t work for everyone, but it’s a tone that’s undeniably perfect for the character of Deadpool. The film occasionally feels too desperate to win over the “nerd” crowd and can sometimes come across as annoying in its comedy, but there’s an overarching sense of self-awareness that keeps the film entertaining from beginning to end. Thankfully, this self-awareness/satire is balanced by the script’s desire to likewise tell a somewhat serious story. This is achieved through Deadpool’s occasionally disarming sweetness and his romantic relationship with Vanessa. Unfortunately, this is slightly betrayed by portraying the core of their relationship as being more sexual than emotional. This is the biggest issue with the film’s emotional elements: they only provide a sense of lightness as opposed to something that we care about on a deeper level. 

The film’s script is impressively tight, providing efficient exposition as well as natural connections to Fox’s larger X-Men universe. It tells its story out of chronological order in the first half which feels surprisingly original within the genre. This keeps things interesting throughout the portion of the film that is traditionally filled with soulless exposition/setup. 

There are also a lot of creative action sequences that aren’t shy about being fun as opposed to thrilling. This allows Deadpool’s dark sense of humor to shine while using his healing powers in comedic ways that were rarely possible for Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine. 

Overall, this is a hilarious comic-book film that is more self-aware than satirical. Reynolds bombards the viewer with jokes, and because of this, more of them fall flat than I would’ve liked. It just relies too much on Reynold’s comedic sensibilities as opposed to a script that truly satirizes the genre. I have a lot of fun with this film, but it’s undeniably flawed. I consider this a “mood movie.” Depending on one’s mood, you will either laugh hysterically or roll your eyes in annoyance. Either way, Deadpool is a special kind of character. B