Deadpool – Film Review by Fran Winston

Directed by: Tim Miller

Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Morena Baccarin, Ed Skrein, T. J. Miller, Gina Carano, Brianna Hildebrand, Stefan Kapičić

Superhero movies are currently big business and come Halloween children vie to dress up as their favourite of the colourful heroes. It is unlikely many will be dressing up as Deadpool this year though as this is not a super hero of the cute fluffy family friendly variety. This hero is more down and dirty and carrying a chip on his shoulder the size of a planet. To say that this movie is unsuitable for children is actually a total understatement. I would imagine it is unsuitable for grown-ups of a certain disposition also. However it is exactly this fact that makes this movie such good fun.

An unapologetic in your face rollercoaster of an origins story, it tells the tale of Wade Wilson, a loud mouthed, quick witted soldier turned mercenary (although he protects teenage girls from stalkers so he’s not all bad). Diagnosed with terminal cancer his world falls apart, he walks out his girlfriend Vanessa (Baccarin) so she doesn’t have to watch him suffer. When he is offered a lifeline in the shape of experimental treatment that should trigger buried mutations and cure the cancer he agrees. However the process severely disfigures him and, after donning the red suit and adopting the name Deadpool, he vows to track down the man who did this to him in order to force him to restore his face to its former handsome glory so that he can win back Vanessa.

Yes, I know that sounds cute but trust me there is nothing cute about this movie other than Wade’s toy unicorn (and you do not want to know what he does with that). This is gritty and nasty from the off with even the opening credits completely subverting what you would expect from this kind of movie.

Reynolds relishes the opportunity to engage in Wade’s often less than savoury dialogue and attacks the script with gusto finding innuendo in event he most innocent line. I would not have been the biggest fan of his performances in the past but he really shines here and isn’t afraid to allow the joke to be at his expense. In terms of supporting cast they all do a good job with what could have been pretty standard fare. The basic plot isn’t ground-breaking – it’s a typical angry young man tale – but it is handled extremely well.

The big surprise is the voilence. For such an in your face movie they have kept it pretty tame. That’s not to say it’s not there but it really does have a cartoonish quality to it so you never have an “urrgghhh” moment.

This is the kind of film that is difficult to covey in print. There are numerous in jokes that fans will love, serious double entendres, plenty of tackiness and lots of laugh out loud humour. And of course some HUGE action scenes. What you take from it will very much depend on how you feel about super hero movies and the Marvelverse in general. What this does is completely turn the concept of the super hero on its head and has great fun doing it. Totally non PC, totally unsuitable for children but absolutely some of the best fun you will have in the cinema this month, Deadpool was worth the wait after years in development hell.