Deadpool review

(How should I frame my “Deadpool” review?  Do I continue to talk about the legacy of superhero movies and it’s oversaturation in pop-culture? At this point I think that tired thesis is just as oversaturated in media journalism. Do I play into Twentieth Century Fox’s clever PR campaign and talk about the supposed significance of an R-rated superhero movie, choosing to ignore the fact that we’ve already had three R-rated “Punisher” movies, three R-rated “Blade” films, as well as “Kick-Ass” and it’s misbegotten sequel? If I wanted, I could even throw in the “Sin City” flicks, James Gunn’s dark comedy “Super” and 1994’s “The Crow.” There’s probably more that I’ m forgetting… Maybe I could talk about how “Deadpool” is a fourth-tier, cult Marvel character in the comics and had it not been for its near-ubiquitous marketing, most people would have had no idea who this character is, that is unless they somehow remember Ryan Reynolds already played him in that god-awful “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” from 2009.

Perhaps it’s worth bringing up that I hated this movie’s marketing campaign, however successful it may have been. In fact, it’s a shock that the final-result did anything for me at all, what with all those smug, self-satisfied posters of Deadpool mugging for the camera in cutesy poses and those smirky trailers full of Reynolds spouting meme-ready one-liners.  I was ready to full-on hate this thing, and yet, somehow, by the time I paid to watch the movie I fully succumbed to its bratty tone. After all, films are stories and aggressive marketing campaigns are not.

I liked the way the film opened with a“Fight Club” inspired, slow-motion examination of its key action set-piece, replacing traditional names and credits with funny, self-referential titles like ‘The Comedic Side Character’ and ‘The Villain With a British Accent.” I guess I liked the supporting cast. T.J. Miller does some nice, snarky dialogue sparing with Reynolds – in fact, if he had Reynolds’ physique I could almost see him playing “Deadpool” just as easily.  Morena Baccarin holds her own as Wade Wilson’s girlfriend/hooker with a heart-of-gold. Too bad she’s relegated to a damsel in distress by the movie’s end. Kind of a lazy trope to rely on, for a film that boasts its subversion…

But if I’m being real with myself, there isn’t much here that’s all that subversive. Despite the hyper-violent dismembering, the raunchy sex scenes, the multiple swears, and all the meta, fourth-wall breaking, structurally this is still your basic superhero origin story, told non-linearly. Wade Wilson’s a mercenary who falls in love. Later he gets cancer and enters into a bio-weapons program that tortures him for weeks, leaving him disfigured, virtually immortal, and cancer-free, and then he suits-up and gets revenge. Come to think it, this is kind of similar to the oft-forgotten “Spawn” from the 90s—ooh, that’s ANOTHER R-rated superhero film this movie wants you to disregard!

*sigh* I won’t begrudge anybody who wants to like “Deadpool”—it’s dumb-fun and weirdly harmless for what it wants to be. I also won’t argue with anyone who thinks it’s a bag of crap. It’s not nearly as clever, post-modern or as novel as it thinks it being—the sexual-politics are pretty regressive, Ed Skrein’s Ajax is a boring villain and, like I already said, the story is so damn simple. But at least the movie doesn’t overstay its welcome and it never feels the need to fold in too many Marvel Universe details or have the character save the whole universe from an alien/robot/terrorist invasion.   As far as flicks tailor-made for 14 year boys go, this one’s mostly watchable, but I think a second or third viewing would grate on me a little more. I guess I’ll find out when I have to review the inevitable sequel.)

Grade: B-

Originally Published in the Idaho State Journal/Feb-2016

Listen to more discussion about "Deadpool" on this week's Jabber and the Drone Podcast.