Deadpool

When Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) is diagnosed with cancer he is contacted by an organisation that can help him by curing his cancer and giving him powers he could only dream of. However, it's not all it seems when the laboratory, run by Ed Skrein's Francis, is a front for an organisation creating a powerful army of slaves. To kick his mutant genes into action, Wilson is forced to endure a terrible ordeal and is horrifically disfigured from the experiments. He escapes his imprisonment and looks for revenge.

Now that the hype for Deadpool has died down a little it is safer for those who didn't enjoy the film to make their voices heard without being swamped by many of the film's defenders. It's also much easier to judge the film without being swayed by the growing hype back when it was released at the start of the year. I saw the film back in February and enjoyed it then and still enjoy it now. The R-rated violence and language is enough of a blessed release from the growing, repetitive tameness of the Marvel franchise. Don't get me wrong, I don't have any major issue with any Marvel film but fans have been braying for the swearing and blood splattered violence of Deadpool for a long time.

It's easy to see why the film can be disliked, it's very meta and the constant fourth wall breakers could be as much as a dealer breaker as it could seal the deal. Again the meta bits could go well over the head of anyone who is not glued to the Marvel franchise/superhero genre but the jokes about The Green Lantern (in which Ryan Renyolds played the starring role), the studio running out of money to make another X-Men film and Xavier's school blowing up in every film (which happened again in X-Men Apocalypse) are highly amusing. This fourth wall breaking and meta humour makes the film an enjoyable one, and takes a lot off weight off a story which lacks the depth to survive without support from the film's various positives.

The film mocks the lack of good Marvel villains in it's amusing opening credits (villain Ed Skrein is credited as 'a British villain)' but despite this the film doesn't create a villain any better than those already in the Marvel cannon and neither does the story particularly grip it's audience. The most memorable aspects of the film is the excellent, blood splattered action, Ryan Reyonlds' highly infectious and engaging performance, and the endless puerile jokes about testicles, farting and wanking. The puerile gags do get a bit tiresome after a while, but outside of these gags the actors show great comic timing, especially during the scene with Deadpool and the taxi driver(one the film's finest moments).

The overpaid tool that is the director does a superb job at getting the most out of the film's R-Rating by helming some terrific gory action sequences that make up for the lack of tension. Deadpool is certainly fun stuff that makes the most of its R-Rating by going for it all regarding gore and violence but if story remains as unexciting as it is it's unique factor might be not enough to sustain quality in the franchise.

3.5/5