Important Step Forward in Comic Book Movie Genre

Rating: 7/10 (11 March 2016)

Marvel has gone hard-R before, but never like this. Deadpool is the latest comic book movie and tells the story of Wade Wilson, an ex- mercenary, who is transformed into the wise-cracking, 4th wall- breaking, sword-wielding, revenge-seeking super. hero? Outside of a guy wearing a suit and having superpowers, the comparisons to your traditional comic book movie end there. Deadpool's obscene, violent, and hilarious take on the superhero genre is a thoroughly entertaining, though imperfect, step closer towards reaching the full potential of the comic book movie industry.
The success of Deadpool rested almost entirely on the shoulders of Ryan Reynolds. Thankfully, Reynolds is one of the best casting decisions I have ever seen in a comic book movie. Reynolds was born to play Deadpool, and his enthusiasm while playing the role is unmatched. I cannot imagine anyone else pulling off Deadpool, and this is a huge credit to the studio for trusting Reynolds with another chance to play this controversial and explicit comic book character.
Deadpool's entire hour and forty minute runtime is filled to the brim with laughs. Dirty jokes, shocking images, and 4th wall breaks are just a few of the many forms Deadpool's laughs take. However, when you have 100 plus minutes of jokes, not every one of them is going to hit. Thankfully, after every miss, the downtime between that and the next funny joke is very minimal. Deadpool definitely goes for quantity over quality when it comes to laughs, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.
Deadpool is extremely violent, but all of the violence works in tandem with the character himself and the tone the movie strives for. The film is directed by Tim Miller, and while this is his first feature film, he does a fantastic job of actually showing the gory action in a coherent and enjoyable manner. The punches, gunshots, and slices all have visual impact and are NOT hidden or censored by the use of many cuts or other lazy filmmaking techniques. However, some backgrounds and images that have a deep depth of field appear unfinished, and at times, don't look good at all. I'm not sure if this was from budgetary constraints or a rush to meet the release deadline in post-production, but it was a minor distraction and worth noting.
The story in Deadpool ties all the gore and laughs together. The story is a fairly simple revenge tale, but it has some emotional weight to it that gives the movie an element I was not expecting. I cared about the man under the mask and his relationship with his girlfriend, Vanessa. And although this relationship is impossible to relate to (at least I would hope so), you still buy them as a couple, and this gives the movie higher stakes. Another thing I liked about the story is it goes back and forth from the present to Deadpool's origin story, which I thought gave the movie a good sense of pacing.
One of my biggest complaints I have with the movie is the villain, Ajax. I'm not super familiar with Deadpool and his comics or who (if anyone) is his main antagonist, but Ajax is a very boring and stereotypical villain. I get that his stern demeanor contrasts with Deadpool's wise-cracking personality and opposites facing off generally makes for an interesting dynamic, but I found him as a buzz kill to all the other awesome things going on around him. His powers are not even interesting either. Just because villains sometimes have a tendency to overshadow the hero, like the Joker overshadowed Batman in The Dark Knight, doesn't mean you have to copout with a villain like Ajax.
The highest praise I can give Deadpool, that I can rarely say for others movies, is everyone in front and behind the camera feels like they are having a blast making it and are trying their hardest to give fans and movie lovers a movie that's not only a lot of fun, but also good. I hope this movie does well financially to reinforce the fact you don't have to follow a standard superhero formula in order to satisfy fans, and critics alike. If the subject matter requires it, you can go R-rated and not limit yourself creatively. There have been other R-rated Marvel comic book movies, but Deadpool embraces its R rating like no other and hopefully paves the way for other brilliant and unique places comic book movies could go in the future.
If you're easily offended by extreme violence, nudity, etc, skip Deadpool altogether. Everyone else? Get your brown pants/red pants/whatever color pants on, and go support a movie that is unapologetically different from any other movie I have ever seen.
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