Definitely different but hardly better

Rating: 7/10 (14 February 2016)

This has been among the most hyped movies to have hit the screen recently. The trailers and commercials were very indicative of a hilariously rendered action flick. And for the most part, it delivers. It's different, wacky and cheeky, in that it is very conscious of itself as a superhero movie, and it exercises this to the fullest. The story and villain however, are disappointingly mundane.
The central performance by Ryan Reynolds is perfect; he effortlessly captures the essence of Deadpool, portraying him with the requisite quirk and gleeful abandon. The music is another entertaining aspect of the movie and complements the adjoining scenes wonderfully. The movie is funny right at the get-go, the opening credits was definitely the funniest and most innovative introduction to a movie, and is sure to have everyone in splits.
The beginning of this movie is about the only time it's able to be consistently funny, starting with the opening credits and the car chase/shooting sequence. Post the first 20 minutes however, things take a turn for a worse in these poor transitions to Deadpool's past which act as a sudden mellow to the intensity of the opening action scene. We're then subjected to the quintessential romance that I felt was largely unsatisfying, for as much as Deadpool The Movie detests conformism and cliché, it was unable to do anything new with its half baked romance in the entirety of its runtime. The story hardly progresses in the first half, because it only orchestrates a lot of catching up on the part of the viewer. The origin story was already quite clear from the amazing trailers, and so it oddly felt like a retread. Also, the trailers featured almost all the funniest lines in the movie, so there impact in the movie itself was alarmingly shallow, what with the absence of any MORE funny scenes with the exception of a couple in the latter half of the film.
The action too was quite standard, with no real off the chart sequences, barring possibly the initial scene. The story, as I already stated, was conventional comic book-esque fare. In the second half, the film picks up, since it focuses on the present and does not waste anymore time on the ramblings of the past. The humour once again finds its place and the action hits the crescendo, all to once again collapse to a lacklustre climax. The villain, lest I forget, seemed more akin to being the second-in-command to a villain, and was hardly menacing.
One last aspect I'd like to dwell upon is the character development. It's safe to say that this movie has very little to no character development at all. There is also little to no back story for the two funny, but disappointingly inconsequential X-Men in the film. Deadpool's love interest too, is hardly explored.
So all in all, this movie has a great wise-cracking comedian in Deadpool, for I wouldn't call him a hero. There are a plethora of ingeniously funny scenes, betrayed ONLY by there revelation in the trailers themselves. The story is dull and generic, something that the movie claims so hard to detest. The villain and the romance are half baked.
So that's what this is, a comedy with action to complement. If you're looking for plot, character development arcs, "romance", or even an immediacy or urgency of knowing something is at stake, that you're familiar with in other comic book movies, you'll find yourself disappointed. It's apparent that it is receiving a lot of love from viewers which most likely is driven by the insane amount of hype created by the trailers to the movie. For if we were to keep the laugh riot aside, it would be quite apparent that its current rating of 8.7 on IMDb, is exaggerated. Go in with lower expectations and you'll definitely be entertained, if nothing else.