DEADPOOL May Be The Best Superhero Flick You'll See This Year!

I don’t care much for Wade Wilson, aka Deadpool, Marvel Comics’ “Merc With The Mouth.” As a character, he’s a blatant derivative of DC’s Deathstroke, he talks too much, and writers have made him corny and sophomoric for years. When the character first debuted in X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE, played by heartthrob Ryan Reynolds, he was merely okay at best, given a couple of decent lines early on before showing up at the end of the movie (one that most comic book fans pan but I actually enjoyed) with his mouth missing and two long forearm spikes that made him look more like Baraka from the Mortal Kombat video games franchise than the lithe, gun-toting assassin. Reynolds waited patiently while DEADPOOL, a standalone feature, languished in developmental hell. During that wait he played Hal Jordan in DC’s GREEN LANTERN, which was so poorly crafted that most people would probably agree that X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE was far superior, even if they didn’t like it either. You might think that this history of superhero film failure would have given Ryan Reynolds second thoughts about trying it again, but Reynolds held on to the role for seven years and saw it through.

So I guess you have to ask yourself one question: How bad does DEADPOOL suck? Not. One. Damn. Bit. DEADPOOL is so ridiculous, so over the top, so completely, well, Deadpool, that it may just be one of the top 5 comic book movies of all time. Yeah, I went there. Suck it, Batfleck. Moms and Dads, this is your only warning: DEADPOOL ain’t Spider-Man , so before you load up Junior and 10 of his sixth grade buddies into the ol’ Windstar to see this Rated R masterpiece, be prepared to answer a lot of questions from other parents and social services.

There are times where the only way to do something right is to give yourself to that pursuit completely. Ryan Reynolds didn’t just act as Deadpool, he became Deadpool. He is over-the-top at nearly every moment, talking/swearing incessantly, and where the comic comes off as trite most of the time, he’s actually extremely funny here. Action? Hell yeah there’s action! Naked chicks? Hell yeah there’s naked chicks! Is one of them Morena Baccarin, the queen of Firefly fans’ dreams, who plays Vanessa Carlysle, Wade’s crazy girlfriend? Pretty damn near! What about Gina Carano, aka Angel Dust? Hell yeah she’s…no wait, she doesn’t get naked, but she’s smokin’ hot and she kicks Colossus’ ass! Wait…did I mention Colossus? Bozhe Moi! Da, tovarisch, the heart of the X-Men is indeed present, trying to persuade Comrade Wade to leave his life of wanton violence, destruction and murder behind and join the X-Men, putting his superpowers to heroic pursuits. Stefan Kapičić replaces Daniel Cudmore, who played the part in X2, X-MEN: THE LAST STAND and X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST. He’s joined by Brianna Hildebrand as a reimagined version of Negasonic Teenage Warhead. If you don’t know who that is, that’s OK—Grant Morrison’s stuff doesn’t make any sense 80% of the time anyway. Rounding out the cast is Ed Skrein as Francis/Ajax, a mutant and survivor of the Weapon X program that turns Wade Wilson into Deadpool, and T. J. Miller as Wade’s buddy Weasel. Deadpool creator Rob Leifeld has a cameo, and Stan “The Man” Lee makes an appearance as the MC of a strip club. Yes, parents, here there be boobies.

I don’t want to say a lot about the plot because if you’re any kind of superhero fan you really just need to see it and if you’re not into superhero flicks you really just need to go see something else, like HAIL, CAESAR! I will say this, though: do not be like Los Angelinos and get to everything late. The opening credit sequence is must see, I kid you not. The end credits are fun too, and yes, there’s a final short scene after the credits, so stick around. DEADPOOL blew away all of my expectations and preconceived notions. The violence is insane—blood and brains and random appendages are flying everywhere, Colossus and Angel Dust have a main event slobberknocker than Vince McMahon wishes he could book for Wrestlemania (anything would be better than the current WWE storyline, but I digress…), and Negasonic Teenage Warhead’s nuclear blast powers make more sense than her comic book counterpart’s did and she blows things up quite nicely. Baccarin and Reynolds have great chemistry and both seem to relish letting loose and being completely uninhibited in their roles.

DEADPOOL is what happens when the director and the actors get it, and the producers and the studio have sense enough to let them run with it. Director Tim Miller knocked this one out of the park, just like you’d expect from a director with…zero credits…waitaminute, OMG! WTF? IKR? LOL! They hired a rookie and he went 5 for 5 with 5 grand slams and pitched a perfect game in his debut? I know this is a Fox film but I tell ya, Marvel can do no wrong right now. Producers Simon Kinberg, Lauren Shuler Donner and that Ryan Reynolds dude again really understood what needed to be done to make this film work and the screenplay by Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese should be required reading for future superhero screenwriters...especially anyone unfortunate enough to be working on DC/WB’s destined to tank projects.

DEADPOOL the motion picture completely out-Deadpools the comic character in every way. All the things that drive me nuts about the character in print and video games are flawless in this film. A February release is a slap in Wilson’s ugly face—this should have been released in the much coveted July 4^th Weekend Mega Blockbuster slot that Will Smith once dominated. This is better than freakin’ STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS! Okay, not really, but as soon as this thing is in wide release I’m going to make a double feature of those two popcorn flicks and all will be right in the world for about four hours. Thank you, Ryan Reynolds. Your apology for Green Lantern is gratefully accepted. Consider DEADPOOL 2 green-lighted already.