Passion plus risk = greatness

Rating: 9/10 (21 February 2016)

Anyone remotely interested in this film already knows what to expect so let me just say, what is promised in the trailer is absolutely delivered with no deception and only adds so much more of the kind of humor, violence and other goodness synonymous with Deadpool. The idea of a solo hero drawn from the X-Men stable getting a standalone movie hasn't been looked forward to greatly or pulled off successfully up until now, if only by virtue of Deadpool's being such a truly unique character. However, they did also take into account that, unlike The Wolverine, omitting other mutants to the point that you don't even need all the fingers on one hand to count them all is a truly horrible idea, and this film did not make that same mistake, so while the primary focus was on Deadpool (and rightfully so), the two other X-Men members got plenty of time to shine, both in terms of exposition and personality, as well as exhibition of their powers. I wasn't expecting to see a scene that could have, in another movie, been something like Hulk vs She-Hulk, but this film delivered that pleasant surprise and I was loving every minute of it.
95% of the humor hit, particularly the meta style humor where Deadpool breaks the fourth wall directly or at least acknowledges to the other characters that something beyond their understanding is looking down upon them, and the other 5% is stuff that is just so-so, or was said too quickly for me to completely pick up on. I think that was one of the main flaws, some things were just cut too fast to either see and enjoy completely, or hear with complete clarity. But the vast majority is what we get and I was extremely satisfied.
Almost every character was fantastic in their role, and the only real complaint I can think of is in that regard is, I would have preferred to either get more from the Blind Al character (who got very little background or development), or not have had her there at all and maybe save her for the sequel so we could get a fresh start with her and be more fleshed out, perhaps with a situation closer to the comics. But TJ Miller, Morena Baccarin, and Gina Carano, none of whom I'd seen in anything-or at least nothing that major-before, all did very well in what roles were written for them, and while it seemed utterly ludicrous for Colossus to spend 100% of his screen time being animated, I felt like this was his best portrayal yet in an X-Men universe movie, and newcomer Negasonic Teenage Warhead was a fantastic new addition and I would be disappointed if she did not make a return appearance at least somewhere, if not the sequel.
The only other nitpick I could really say is that Deadpool's obsession with fixing his deformed skin was very bothersome. That he could think something like that (which actually varied from time to time) would break a relationship was laughable, and the very idea that him also having a healing factor that could then somehow not also fix his skin problems, just felt too inconsistent. Wolverine looked a lot like that after being burnt up by the explosion of an A-bomb, and went back to looking like he always did. If there was a significant reason why, it was not satisfactorily explained.
In summation, if you were expecting this to be the deservedly R-rated slice of fried gold Deadpool deserved to have his name slapped across, you will not be disappointed. This should wash the bad taste out of your mouth from both Deadpool's previous portrayal and, with luck, the recent Fant4stic debacle. I saw it in IMAX, not 3D, but I'd say based on my viewing, 3D would totally be worth it too.