Daredevil Meets Terminator Meets Freddie Kruger: Comic-Action Thriller Which Breaks the Fourth Wall

Rating: 7/10 (17 April 2016)

The antihero Deadpool engages in four main activities: body slams, body impaling, shoot 'em-up's, and wisecracks. Probably the last one is what gives Deadpool its primary trademark, although the wisecracks are not necessarily directed to other characters. Deadpool, throughout the film which was true of the original Marvel creation, stops what he's doing, looks at the camera and speaks to the audience in true Kevin Spacey style. He even breaks further walls when he references the studio who financed the film and how they couldn't afford other X-Men characters.
The film begins with a kind of CGI still of one of the action sequences with unusual credits. Instead of the typical "starring such-and-such", the opening credits say things like "Starring God's Perfect Idiot" for the star and "A British Villain" for the baddie, and my favorite "Directed by An Overpaid Tool" instead of naming the talent. This was actually one of the cleverest parts of the film. Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) has donned a costume, using the name Deadpool, and is on his way to meet his English-accented nemesis. He's in a cab on his way to meeting the guy who corrupted his face and body. His face looks like Freddie Kruger of "A Nightmare on Elm Street" fame "crossed" with a topographical map of Utah, according to his sort-of-friend and bartender Weasel.
Then we flash-back a couple of years before Wade Wilson became Deadpool. He was your friendly neighborhood rough-em-up for hire. If you were in bad company of people who were even more amoral than you, you could hire Wilson to rough them up, or possibly eliminate them, depending upon your needs. Wilson hangs at a bar of strange and very wicked characters who makes the guy wanted in "12 systems" in the bar at Mos Eisley in the original Star Wars seem like a high-class gentleman. Wilson takes care of business there, and a constant betting pool is shown on a blackboard at the back of the bar. People actually bet on whether a regular in the bar might be killed. Weasel even bets Wilson would be the victim! There, Wilson meets the love of his life, Vanessa (Morena Baccarin), and they begin first as a sex couple but eventually fall in love with each other. Until, Wilson finds out he has terminal cancer.
He explains the situation to Weasel, telling him he has "el cancer" in more parts of his body than he can count. Then he meets a strange man who claims to be part of a government operation to make those who are terminally ill into better and stronger people. Sort of the "$6 Million Man" for Mutants. He goes to the "clinical" where he meets Ajax, real name Francis (Ed Skrein), who informs him that this is not a governmental agency at all but rather an independent operation. They make "new" people out of terminally ill patients then sell them to the highest bidder as mutant slaves. Ajax injects Wilson with some kind of mutating drug which won't create a bodily reaction unless Wilson is subjected to all kinds of torture. The last one does, but it changes his skin and face into the equivalent of pale hamburger. The only positive effect: his cancer is cured. He is able to leave the "clinic" under a rather complex set of circumstances.
Then Wilson tries to find Vanessa, but he is reluctant to face her because of his changed looks. He then moves in as a tenant of a blind woman name of Blind Al (Leslie Uggams). He wants a cure for his disfigurement and creates the red costume and adopts the name Deadpool looking for Ajax/Francis. He batters and slashes people in the most horrendous of situations looking for Ajax, but referring to him as "Francis". Ajax realizes he's on his trail, and in retaliation, he kidnaps Vanessa.
This film is reasonably well-written, and I liked the breaking of the fourth wall with Deadpool's comments. Deadpool's witticisms reference pop culture such as "I'm gonna do to your face what Limp Bizkit did to music in the late 90s!" or " I had another Liam Neeson nightmare. I kidnapped his daughter and he just wasn't having it." At first he tells us the film is a love story but later contradicts himself and says it's really a horror movie.
The storyline is pretty basic as far as superhero films go: baddie does something horrendous to the "hero" and kidnaps girlfriend, and hero has to save her. Within the larger framework is a whole series of very violent action sequences which are definitely not for the feint of heart. In some places, I thought the violence was a bit overdone. I'm not too fond of lots of impaling. Throughout all sequences are Deadpool's very off-hand and even tongue-in-cheek witticisms. The jokes to the audience made some of the more violent scenes a bit more tolerable but some scenes were quite over the top, particularly the initial action sequence. Still, a relatively original and alternative take on the superhero genre. He even admits at one point he's "no hero". No kidding.