The Only Marvel Film That Didn't Bore Me

Rating: 7/10 (23 February 2016)

It seems there truly is a first time for everything. It's borderline painful for me to admit this, but I enjoyed a Marvel movie. I wouldn't have gone to see Deadpool on my own, but I was hanging with a friend for the weekend and he insisted on buying me a ticket. What happened next was extraordinary: I went an hour and a half without looking at my watch or wondering what was piling up in my inbox.
Perhaps that was part of the movie's success: that it didn't push the 2 hour mark and that it wasn't straining, like some perpetually frustrated fanboy, to announce the credibility of comic book story lines to the world. "COMIC BOOKS ARE COOL NOW TOO! SEE?!? THEY'RE MAKING MOVIES WITH BUDGETS OF HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS WHICH MAKES THEM OFFICIALLY ACCEPTED IN THE CULTURAL ZEITGEIST!" No, rather Deadpool was made for less than 60 million, the script was clever and tight, and it focused on one of the strengths of the comic book format: their absurdity and over-the-top nature.
Ultimately, it's another revenge story, but you can get away with following one of the tried and true plot templates as long as you put an original spin on it. Deadpool does this in spades with its buckets of irreverence, a few moments of sincerity to provide contrast, comedy that actually hits and some well filmed action. Also, by shedding the PG-13 shackles, Deadpool remained true to its roots and is another recent example of how film making for adults can still be commercially successful in the 21st century.
My biggest gripe with the movie is its "look", especially the background shots whenever you're outside. Like most modern Hollywood blockbusters the environments have this weird, washed-out gray coloring to them that's about as far from authentic as one can possibly get. That's no doubt a cost cutting measure, relying on CG to fill in for well designed sets and difficult outdoor shots, but the ugliness and laziness of these cheap backgrounds is pervasive in the frame, spoiling what could otherwise be a spectacular looking picture.
It's not an amazing film, but I liked Deadpool. It was well paced, skillfully written, it made me laugh and by being the antithesis of the last 15 years of lackluster super hero movies, it became the first good comic based film since Sin City.