matt_zimmer | "Deadpool" Review (Spoilers) (Reply)

Deadpool

Don't believe the hype. Let me be clear: That was a dang good movie. I will admit that from the outset. But that's ALL it was. It wasn't a gamechanger for the genre, or a revolution for superheroes, it was just a dang good movie. It wasn't even a dang great one. But yeah, it was cool. But I think people wanting to believe this is as awesome as they claim are invested in a bit of wishful thinking just because it's cool to get a superhero movie with real violence, f bombs and full frontal from Morena Baccarin. I will not dismiss how awesome that last thing is. But I think people are putting their hopes and dreams on a potential future for R rated superheroes movies, instead of an outright amazing film itself. I understand why people want to talk it up, and get more studios to take chances with riskier material. But the movie itself is only dang good.

I find this interpretation of Deadpool very different than the admittedly few other takes I have seen. In every other version, Deadpool is insane, which is why he breaks the fourth wall. I don't get any real insanity from this version. The only slightly crazy thing he does is encourage the cab driver under his breath to kill his brother-in-law (and he's clearly joking). My interpretation of why Deadpool breaks the fourth wall of the movie isn't that he's crazy. It's that he's insightful, and the smartest person in the X-Men movie franchise. I like the idea of a guy together enough to be self-aware that he doesn't actually exist. Why would that make him crazy at all? He's actually right.

I found many of the jokes wonderful and absurd. The stove being on was done to death in the trailers, but it's truly funny. My favorite joke was him telling Blind Al he hid 1500 kilos of cocaine and a cure for blindness somewhere in the apartment and wishing her luck. That was both mean and super funny. And the whole thing with him making it seem like he's about to beg for mercy only to point out gunk in Francis's teeth is for some reason always funny. The reason the experiment didn't make him crazy is that Wade Wilson was always like this.

Speaking of which, knock the confused timelines of the original X-Men cast and X-Class all you want Wade, if Days Of Future Past didn't do the retconning it did, Deadpool would be stuck with his X-Men: Origins: Wolverine origin story. Which is good for nobody.

I wanted that movie to take a bigger beating than it did. Just the ridiculous action figure is slammed. In reality, it is one of the worst superhero movies of all time, but it made enough money to not actually bomb, and was widely seen anyways. And without it, this movie would never exist. Deadpool, the franchise owes a great deal to the worst X-Men film, both good and bad. I wanted to hear a lot more smack talked about it.

A couple of themes I liked that the movie explored was Colossus doing this big speech at the end that heroes show mercy, and Deadpool killing Francis when the monologue gets too long and boring. It's right for this character to commit that measure of lethal force, but I don't necessarily think we needed Colossus there to make the point the death itself makes clear. I think that was done just to make the movie seem edgy. The thing is, that plot turn isn't actually edgy, it falls into line with the rest of the movie. I think the movie thinks the audience is supposed to have a bigger objection to that idea than we do.

I get why. We have been conditioned for decades that superheroes never kill, and even if Wade isn't a hero, I've found that a ridiculous mandate and general rule. Cops and soldier use lethal force all the time, and are venerated for it. If the only objection is that they are operating outside of the law, then maybe they shouldn't be vigilantes at all. That moral code doesn't strike me as having a rhyme or reason. It infects DC more than Marvel, but I think as a thing repeatedly taught to the audience, it doesn't strike me as morally consistent with how our universe treat real-world heroes.

The other theme explored is that Wade gets the girl at the end of the first picture. Usually for somebody is Wade's position, the girl is the carrot at the end of the journey. The hero must stay alone because they are either monsters, or will put the loved one in unnecessary danger. Vanessa however can take it. And if she's drunk enough, she'll still probably be willing to sit on his face.

I like the Ferris Bueller tag because modern audiences have unreasonable expectations for tags. In the 1980's, Ferris Bueller was the best we were gonna get. Settle for it. Also, he'll still spoil Cable so stop complaining.

I'm giving that an easy four stars. What I don't get is people who think that was mindblowing superhero film history that changed everything. It's just a dang good movie. ****.

Deleted / Extended Scenes:

Most of these deserved to be cut. Overall: **1/2.

Prison: The Raft:

This would have confused Francis' situation for me. A wise cut. *.

Cancer World Tour:

This doesn't add anything good, and there isn't anything funny in it. It doesn't fit the tone of the rest of the movie. *.

Extended Freeway:

Negasonic Teenage Warhead would be a great name for band. I love her correctly predicting Wade was about to say something stupid. Why WOULDN'T he want to feed into that? I'm still laughing at Deadpool shaking his head back and forth. I see that the film might have trimmed some of this for time, but I don't think any of the deleted stuff actually needed to be deleted. ****.

Extended Workshop Fight:

That however could have stood to be trimmed. Pathos ain't exactly this movie's strong suit. **1/2.

Morgue:

It's funny, but it's brief and the movie isn't worse for it being gone. No great loss. ***.

5 Year Montage:

That was fun but I already got my fill of Wade masturbating to a stuffed unicorn in the movie, thanks. ***1/2.

No5 Bathroom:

That did not work. *1/2.

Extended Angel / NTW Fight:

Yeah, watching a young girl about to get the snot beat out of her isn't very entertaining. **.

Extended Rubble Pile: Gratuitous Worth It:

I am glad this is gone. Vanessa does not need to be a murderer for her and Wade to work. It amazes me the movie originally thought she did. *.

Alt Coda:

It's a funny slam, but I'm weirdly glad Newt Gingrich's name is not actually spoken in the movie. ***1/2.

Gag Reel:

There was a lot of improvisation in this film. The fun thing about these outtakes is that it's impossible to tell where Ryan Reynolds ends and Deadpool begins. For some reason, that makes them feel even more meta than the actual movie. *****.