I'm touching myself tonight!

Rating: 8/10 (5 March 2016)

A solo movie Deadpool has been a long time coming, originally being set to be a spin-off from X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Despite the film being put on hold star Ryan Reynolds and first time director Tim Miller were determined to make Deadpool and after seven years and leaked concept footage we finally got this hyped flick.
Wade Wilson (Reynolds) is a bad guy who is paid to go after even worst guys. After meeting a prostitute, Vanessa (Morena Baccarin) Wade forms a relationship. But their happiness is shattered when Wade discovers he has cancer and volunteers for an experiment to give him mutant powers. The treatment was a success but disfigures him. Wade sets out to get revenge against that the man who mutated him, Francis (Ed Skrein) and becomes everyone's favourite gun totting, katana wielding, motormouth assassin.
The appearance of Deadpool in X-Men Origins: Wolverine was a complete distance. Reynolds stole the show in brief appearance as Wade, but when he turned to Deadpool the film reinterpreted to have his mouth sewed shut and blades coming out of his arms. Even the X-Men films before 'Days of Future Past' rewrote continuity ignored 'Origins' by the X-Men films and Deadpool's solo outing is a more faithful adaptation, letting the character wear his famous red costume, being extremely violent and breaks the fourth wall. The primary goal was to please the fans and it manages that effortlessly.
Deadpool was a pet project for Reynolds, he wanted to see it made despite a lack of interest from the studio. Deadpool was the perfect character for Reynolds to play, he has the quick wit and delivery while also physically believable as a superhero. Reynolds has notorious bad luck with superheroes, starring in Blade Trinity and Green Lantern, but with Deadpool he finally found the right role for his abilities. As Wade Reynolds was witty with his delivery, whether talking to Vanessa or taking on a foe and as Deadpool he lives up the title of the 'Merc with the Mouth'.
Deadpool in the comics is famously aware he is a comic book character and a part his shtick is he forth wall. The film adaptation keeps this and has a blend of self-referential humour, pop-references and crude humour. It could have easily been a disaster since it this was a very difficult type of humour to master, but fortunately the writing, acting and direction gets it right. The film starts off with one of the best title sequences for any film in a long time which makes fun of everyone involved and having some well placed references. Reynolds makes fun of himself and his previous superhero roles and himself and as mentioned constantly has witty lines. There are also plenty of visual gags and Reynolds is not the only funny character in the film, T.J. Miller has some funny exchanges with Reynolds and Brianna Hildebrand was a revelation as Negasonic Teenage Warhead, being a sardonic, snarky teenager who has a very dry delivery.
Other actors played their roles more straight, mainly Skerin and Stefan Kapičić as the voice of Colossus. Skerin was convincing enough in the action sequences and does toe-to-toe with Deadpool but as a villain on the bland side. It was a shame that Daniel Cudmore did not respire his role as Colossus but Kapičić's version is more loyal to the comics, being a huge Eastern Europe metal man. The film uses Gina Carano to the best of her abilities - by not letting her speak much and lets her fighting do the talking.
Tim Miller also shows himself to be a director with potential. He has previous worked as special effects artist, including working as the second unit director on Thor: The Dark World. He keeps a fast pace and he delivers some excellent action sequences. The opening action sequence was an excellent recreation of the leak test footage and the action as a whole was perfectly bloody as Deadpool uses his knives and guns. Tim Miller was bit like Zack Snyder with his approach, being highly stylised as Deadpool uses his guns and swords and jumping up in the air. When Wade escapes from the experiments felt very similar to V's escape in the film adaptation for V for Vendetta. But the risk for Tim Miller is he could end up being the next James McTeigue, have a great debut film and makes nothing good afterwards.
Deadpool was made budget of $58 Million, very modest for a big superhero film. Considering Tim Miller's background the CGI work was strong, particularly the motion capture for Colossus. It would have been great to see Colossus to change back and forth from his human to his metal form, but he was kept in his metal form because it must have been cheaper to do so. Deadpool even makes a dig at the film's budget.
Though Deadpool is a funny and fun film, being a good example of an action-comedy, it's the story that is let's it down. It's a standard origins story which by itself is fine and the logic is to help distance this version of Deadpool from the last one, particularly since it has the same star. But it brings nothing new to the table and the film is not as subversive as it thinks it is. Films like Kick-Ass, Super and Chronicle are much better deconstructions of the superhero genre.
Deadpool does what it sets out to do, please the fans of comics while also being a genuinely funny action/superhero film. It deserves its status as an immediate cult status and there is enough for a more causal audiences to enjoy. An excellent start to the 2016 superhero season.