Vastly entertaining

Rating: 9/10 (12 February 2016)

Wisecracking smart*rse Wade Wilson, ex-Special Forces, and currently engaged in small-time "enforcement for pay", falls in love with hooker Vanessa, and her with him. Shortly after this idyllic state of affairs begins, Wade is diagnosed with terminal cancer. All is not lost, however, as he is offered a treatment which will not only cure his cancer but also kick-start his mutant gene, giving him superpowers. Wade opts in, not realising that the people doing this have nefarious intentions: he is cured and enhanced, but (not-very-)hideously scarred. How can he show his face to Vanessa before he has got villain Ajax to cure him? So, masked up and using the name Deadpool...
Ryan Reynolds, having played Wilson/Deadpool in X-Men: Wolverine – Origins, has a second pass at the character, this time somewhat outside the control of the X-Men franchise (although this movie is firmly within the X-Men movie universe). And this time, they get the character right. They get everything else right, too, including the fact that Deadpool makes it very clear, directly to the audience, that he knows he is a character in a comic book movie.
This film is very funny, from the opening credits onwards. It is also very violent, very foul-mouthed, and fairly rude. It is not a kids' super-hero movie – far from it. Wilson is not so much morally compromised, as completely amoral from head to toe: this is clear throughout, but made explicit by his response to a speech from Colossus which explains to him what makes a hero. There is bags of super-hero action, mostly very well staged although it sometimes goes so fast that it can be a bit difficult to follow (some of the slo-mo is therefore very welcome). I think non-comic fans will enjoy it but, for comic fans, it is full of gags drawn from comics, movies, and Reynolds' own super-hero screen career.
It's not without flaws – how come his mutation/treatment heals everything except his face? – but it is hugely enjoyable, and completely vindicates Reynolds' lengthy efforts to get it made. I'm looking forward to the sequel, greenlit a couple of days ago, already.