Film: “Deadpool”
Release Date: Feb. 11
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Grade: A
The prospect of new superhero movies is far from new and getting routine to a degree, one of the many topics the red-suited, immortal “Deadpool” addresses.
“Deadpool” finally hit theaters on Friday, Feb 11. Highly anticipated, the movie had certain bars to meet, to which it did effortlessly. Witty and sustainably funny, the move never felt overbearing.
“Deadpool” earned $135 million in its first weekend at the box office and shattered the previously held record of “The Matrix Reloaded” for all-time best domestic opening weekend of an R-rated movie, according to Entertainment Weekly.
At the start of the movie, it’s easy to tell how the movie will progress, as the camera maneuvers through a scene of frozen chaos.
A gun to a head, a man being pulled by his underwear into a tumbling SUV, a red-crotch in a face, all while giving the producers of the movie less than flattering name substitutes.
The movie finds laughs on all parts of the comedy spectrum, from slapstick to witty comebacks to breaking the fourth wall to poke fun at itself and fire off a few shots at others – I’m looking at you Fox.
What would be unexpected for some, mostly those with a weaker stomach, is the level of gore in the movie.
It’s no secret that the story of “Deadpool” is fairly graphic, but seeing it on the big screen was intense, to say the least.
The movie can make you jump at the sight of seeing a man splattered across a highway sign like a used piece of gum, then make you laugh at a sexual innuendo not even 10 seconds later.
It was known “Deadpool” was going to have a lack of X-Men characters but the way in which Marvel addressed it was both direct and hilarious.
Colossus and newcomer Negasonic Teenage Warhead, previously mentioned as “moody teen,” are the only X-Men that are shown throughout the movie.
At one point while visiting Xavier’s mansion, Deadpool jokes, “This big mansion and I only ever see you two here, it’s almost as if the studio couldn’t pay for more X-Men.”
Thanks Fox.
Ryan Reynolds’ performance as “Deadpool” was organic – you could see Reynolds saying some of the lines in real life, no part of it felt forced.
A great deal of the movie is an origin and introduction story, with the sequel already approved – and featuring one very unexpected X-Men member – so “Deadpool” has the potential to be attractive to even casual moviegoers.
The movie switches from flashback to real-time a bit too many times, but the humor alleviates a great deal of it.
T. J. Miller played a great weasel, mildly awkward, but still able to throw out a dark humored joke when it’s least expected.
The movie and the character also contrast heavily with many superhero movies coming out now in which the world – and sometimes the universe – are in danger.
An anti-hero with selfish motives, revenge and to get his girl back, “Deadpool” is definitely a movie to see.
Kenneth Kashif Thomas is an arts desk editor. He can be reached at kenneth.thomas@ubspectrum.com.
