DEADPOOL
ACTION
PACKED&
R RATED
This Deadpool is different (and more like
the comics) — talkative, quick-witted
(if knob gags can be classed as wit) and
with a fondness for breaking the fourth
wall. The film’s set in the same universe
as the X-Men franchise, but has an anarchic spirit that sticks a middle finger
up to Bryan Singer’s oh-so-serious sensibilities. And smirks to itself as it does
so.
The film starts with Wade Wilson already having chosen his super-name, in
costume and midway through a scrap
on a freeway. That’s interspersed with
flashbacks showing him pre-disfiguring
mutation, falling in love, being diagnosed
with terminal cancer, through to being
tortured by Ed Skrein’s main antagonist
Ajax (named after the cleaning product). It’s a smart structure, one that
neatly sidesteps the major issue with
origin stories: the suited-up main attraction being absent for the first hour.
In this case, because you don’t have time
to dwell on it as it’s playing out before
you, it also disguises how slight the main
mission is (a fight, a kidnapping, a rescue attempt, roll credits). But Deadpool
is a perfect example of a character who
doesn’t need world-threatening danger
to foil.
MAKING OF THE MOVIE
This may be “Deadpool’s” most radical element and an
important reminder that there are only so many times
filmmakers can lay waste to major cities before it starts
feeling stale.
After “Deadpool” racked up
$135 million this weekend,
Reynolds has the kind of
franchise role that will allow
him to have his pick of top
scripts and projects. Fox, the
studio behind the picture,
has already begun working
on a sequel.
Reynolds may owe his
second chance in part to his
personal charm. Industry executives have always praised
his willingness to campaign
for the movies he makes,
finding him to be an affable
trooper. When his movies
faltered, there wasn’t the
sense of schadenfreude
there was when, say, Shia
LaBeouf decided to napalm
his public image by taking
the party to Walgreens and
heckling the cast of Broadway’s “Cabaret.”
It also is a credit to his
drive. After playing the character in 2009’s