.Funny and Irreverent

Rating: 7/10 (13 February 2016)

Deadpool, starring Ryan Reynolds, is the cinematic origin story for the "Merc with the Mouth" Marvel superhero. It follows Wade Wilson, a wise-cracking anti-hero who becomes the titular character after participating in a body enhancement program to overcome cancer.
What really makes this film work is its humor. From the opening credits to the closing credits, the jokes flow in a rapid fire of obscenity, vulgarity, and irreverence. The film frequently breaks the fourth wall and takes aim at pop culture elements ranging from movie studios to Ryan Reynolds himself. I was expecting a funny movie. What I got was a hilarious movie. Reynolds absolutely nails the role of Wade Wilson/Deadpool. He has the perfect personality and screen presence to embody the snarky, anti-heroic character. His timing and delivery are impeccable. It was also refreshing to see a superhero movie that does not shy away from showing graphic violence. With the R- rating, the filmmakers were able to show much more than your average PG-13, special effects-laden superhero movie. The graphic visuals lent themselves well to the humor and the brutality of the action.
While I mentioned "special effects-laden superhero movies" as a contrast to this film, there is quite a bit of CGI in Deadpool. Some of it works, some of it doesn't. I was not a big fan of the CGI towards the end of the film. The end sequence did not feel real to me due to what I would call fairly questionable CGI. In addition, while the dialogue of the script is witty and creative, the structure of the story is mundane. It follows the same beats and turns as many of the other superhero origin stories. The film gets away with this for the most part because of its self-awareness, but it would have been nice to have a more original story behind the great dialogue.
Overall, this is definitely a film worth watching. People who have been suffering from genre fatigue due to oversaturation of superhero movies may want to give this film a shot. It doesn't reinvent the story wheel, but its dialogue and bloody action raise this a notch above its contemporaries in the genre.