Not as subversive as it looked, but thoroughly competent and often enjoyable

Rating: 7/10 (27 February 2016)

Deadpool, one of the 2016's most hyped movies, follows a mercenary who is subjected to an experiment which turns him into a mutant with superpowers. Sounds like your everyday superhero movie, right? Well, no. As the rather brilliant marketing campaign never stopped repeating, this is not your average superhero movie. Swearing, sex, gore, adult humour and meta jokes add up to a very unique superhero movie which is not for kids. Deadpool is a victim of its overhyping, but it's a good time and at least a bit different from the usual superhero movies. It does have quite a few problems though. In many ways, the plot is generic and while some clichés are mocked, not all of them are. At times the film is too dark. At times the film- and the central character- are unbearably smug and insufferable. Many scenes just feel like the film trying to be as R rated as possible, and the adult nature of the film starts feeling like a gimmick as a result. Not all of the jokes hit, although quite a lot do, and it's pretty entertaining. It's not as different and unique as it looked, but it's still subversive and entertaining much of the time. It is funny, occasionally hilarious, the performances are strong and the visuals are very clever. Possibly the most subversive thing of all is that the romance actually works for once. It's probably not going to age too well and I think people will realize it's not deserving of it's ludicrously high placement on IMDb Top 250 on repeat viewings, but it's a decent enough movie with some very good lines.
6/10