by Melanie Gordon
Like a thrill-seeker choosing to ride the most unstable rollercoaster imaginable, “Deadpool” will probably be the best-worst movie you will encounter this year. It is obviously Twentieth Century Fox’s darkly brilliant attempt to stray away from the safe, more mature “X-Men” thread to pull at younger adult audiences looking for something different in the superhero realm.
Ironically, “Deadpool” star Ryan Reynolds began his career through the Nickelodeon pipeline and has since struggled to find promising roles, leading to him quitting acting altogether at one point. With the help of a friend, he was able to pick himself back up — and good thing. Grasping the leading role in a financially explosive movie like “Deadpool” shows his fate is certainly changing for the better.
Reynolds, as Wade Wilson a.k.a. Deadpool, is a man-turned-mutant who possesses the power to heal himself. He spends the duration of the movie seeking to reunite with the love he abandoned (Morena Baccarin as Vanessa) and to kill the mutant who is void of feeling (Ed Skrein as Ajax) responsible for taking advantage of his terminal condition.
But don’t be fooled by the seemingly serious plot and the trailers that may present a deceptively linear storyline. “Deadpool” teeters on the edge of “WTF?” and “That was awesome!” It’s like once you get to that fine line of “Mm, I think that was a bit much,” the inundation of comedy saves (or kills) the moment every time, depending on the moment in question.
I imagine myself sitting in a psychiatrist’s chair as he asks me, “And how did this movie make you feel?” Well, the movie wouldn’t let me feel anything for too long. When I started to feel a rush of one emotion, it was soon halted by its polar opposite thrusting me into a wall of “OK, I’ll take that.”
And you would think that this was a bad thing, except when scenes are finessed with phenomenal slow-motion and CG effects, a nostalgic soundtrack and undeniable humor from Reynolds, you learn to love and accept the beautiful chaos as is.
Supporting characters like Weasel (TJ Miller) and Blind Al (Leslie Uggams) speckle additional hilarium throughout the movie, while Vanessa (Morena Baccarin) keeps the movie sexy yet sober when necessary. Colossus (voiced by Stefan Kapicic) and Negasonic Teenage Warhead (Brianna Hildebrand), although missing the mark at being funny or “super,” their presence seemed to be a reminder to viewers that this really is a superhero movie despite the Deadpool-ery.
However, we can’t forget the behind-the-scenes talent, which is first credited to the writers and director. Writers Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese are a team both known for their work in “Zombieland” and “GI Joe: Retaliation.” Fabian Nicieza and Rob Liefeld’s focus was on the characters, as they are both comic buffs. Tim Miller, with an already long list of leadership roles in film, actually debuted as a director with the “Deadpool” movie.
No matter what you’ve heard, “Deadpool” reviews are lackluster, and I can understand why to an extent. Older audiences may be easily put off by the coarse nature of the film. Unexpected blood-and-guts moments, explicit humor and scenes that seemingly spiral in no particular order can throw viewers off.
Regardless, “Deadpool” still made a killing at the box office. When a movie pulls in multi-million dollar sales, who cares what others think. Topping the movie charts, “Deadpool” began grossing $300 million, then $500. Now, their financial margins continue to rise as the movie has currently reached $700 million worldwide. They have still yet to reach those numbers on the local front, however. Overall, it seems the success of “Deadpool” can largely be credited to the support of millennials and the die-hard comic and superhero markets.
