Deadpool

            The merc with a mouth finally showed up on the big screen and it was everything that many of us hoped it would be and had anticipated for years upon years. 20^th Century Fox may have botched some comic book films pretty badly over the years, but, with this one it seems like they truly understood who the character was, what he needed to be, who to cast, and the cherry on top was that they embraced the character by making the film rated R. I am not a huge stickler when it comes to ratings because I am not under the impression that a lot of cursing and blood makes a good movie, but in this case, you cannot do the Deadpool character justice without the blood and the mouth. Truthfully, while I have never mentioned it in any of my reviews, I have always been very vocal about my indifference of Ryan Reynolds as an actor. I think he is good, but I do not see him in the same way a lot of people see him. That being said, he was the perfect choice for this character, and I have never liked him more than I did during this film. He is the merc with a mouth.

            This film dives right into the mayhem with one of the best opening sequences in a comic book film. They perfectly emulate who the character is, his personality, the tone of the film, and this bleeds into the characters origin and motivation for his journey. The pace of this film is one that is solid, but full of many flashbacks, so you will be jumping back and forth between time, but you will also have Deadpool narrating you the whole way, so it is not difficult to follow. Along for the ride is the lovable Negasonic Teenage Warhead, big protector Colossus, and T.J. Miller basically playing T.J. Miller. Each of these side characters provide everything from insight, comedy, and heartfelt moments. One reason I really enjoyed this film is because since the studio did not have much faith in it, the budget was not as big as comic book film budgets usually are, and because of that they needed to put more emphasis on the characters and the story, so everything that happens flows exceptionally well and makes complete sense. It also forced the film to compensate for the budget which resulted in some crazy choreography during the fights and some laugh out loud comedy. Even the minor characters like the taxi driver Dopinder or Deadpool’s roommate Blind Al are hilarious in their scenes.

            While I love a lot of this film, I do have one big problem with it. The villain is weak. And I do not mean weak in the sense that he is not strong or cannot do anything, but he simply has no depth. He seems to have no motivation other than “I am the bad guy”. For as great as the writing for this film is, not enough time was spent on the villain. The rest of the characters compensate for this issue, but that should not have been necessary. You can write Deadpool as a great character and still give him a great villain to play off of. The only good thing to come from the villain is the epic “Francis” jokes that Deadpool constantly makes. While I had complaints about the villain, I did not have many complaints about the film. It fires on all cylinders and is an absolute blast that you can watch again and again. Just make sure you go into it with an open mind, and maximum effort. Official Rating: 4 Stars.