Deadpool (2016)

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Going back to 2016, it just took one thing for us geeks to hear before we were foaming at the mouth like wild dogs in anticipation for this movie. And that was the R-rating! All we could do was imagine all the possibilities, and it delivered on all fronts. Fourth-wall breaking aplenty, sure, but also sex, violence, foul language, suggestive moments - everything that makes Deadpool awesome was there. We needed things set right after that Baraka-looking Deadpool given to us in 'Origins: Wolverine', and we GOT IT!

Cutting right to the chase, Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) works as a mercenary for hire. After he meets the love of his life, Vanessa (Morena Baccarin), life is looking better than ever, however, he becomes riddled with El Cancer, and soon desperate situations call for desperate measures. He agrees to an offer that he is told will not only cure his cancer, but give him the abilities of a superhero. Instead, Wade is subject to a torturous nightmare which eventually gives him the ability to heal from basically everything, and the ordeal leaves him deformed.

This was all done by the hands of a dude who likes to call himself Ajax (Ed Skrein), and his assistant, Angel Dust (Gina Carano), and most of the film is centred on Wade's revenge against the pair for turning him into a freak. Armed with a killer sense of humour, a rapid healing factor, blades and bullets, nothing can stop him! Nothing short of Colossus (Stefan Kapicic) and Negasonic Teenage Warhead (Brianna Hildebrand), that is. In my opinion, the best way to look at it is that they're basically representing a PG-13 rating telling an R-rating what it should be doing while the R-rating doesn't really care.

We've become accustomed to superhero movies thinking a bit more outside of the box by now, but just think about it being early 2016 at this point. The most well-regarded superhero movie at the time was probably still 'The Avengers', with 'Civil War' right around the corner, meaning Spidey wasn't even a part of the MCU yet. For the time, between the R-rating, fan service, fourth wall-breaking and Ryan Reynolds being awesome for helping to bring it all together, this was one of the best superhero movies of all time. Arguably, it still is.

A couple more characters we are introduced to throughout the movie also help form what becomes Wade's inner circle; eventually what he calls his family. There's the lovable cab driver, Dopinder (Karan Soni), his bartender and close friend, Weasel (T.J. Miller), and his senior, foul-mouthed roommate, Blind Al (Leslie Uggams). While none of them are deeply essential to the plot, all of their back and forth banter with Wade/Deadpool make for some of the funniest moments in the film.

Because the studio actually wised up and let the crew do what they wanted with the movie, its one that still completely holds up, and I'd argue set the bar just a little higher for things to come - namely a new batch of 20th Century Fox superhero titles with a darker tone to them. They were even playing with genres for a bit when you get right down to it. If this was a comedy, 'Logan' was a western, and 'New Mutants' was set to be a horror, originally slated to air in April of 2018, before 'Deadpool 2'. It would have been interesting to see where that all could have gone, but here and now, I'm kinda glad it didn't completely work out.

Still, however, I can't help but give this film all the kudos it deserves for really, truly listening to its audience, and providing us with a winning product that didn't really seem to get on anyone's nerves with any kind of predictability, or cliched moments. The plot is incredibly basic for a typical superhero movie, sure, but I almost feels like that adds to the experience, as Wade is just cracking fourth-wall jokes throughout. It works for what it needs to be, and its a superhero movie everyone can enjoy, if only because its just so damn fun!

5/5

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