As this movie ended, I turned to my movie companion, remarking, “That was fun!” And that’s pretty much my summary of this film. It’s just pure, simple, *awful*, fun. Fun? Awful? Well, yes. See, it’s also profane, violent, silly, sexual, refreshing, vulgar, and more—sometimes all at the same time. I belly-laughed loudly, and I forgot the things outside of the theater from before and after the film. I also cringed, groaned, rolled my eyes, and peaked from between my fingers hiding my face. And those are all things that a good raunchy comedy, overflowing with double entendres, should make happen. It just so happened to come in the package of a comic book superhero.
Before I saw the trailers, I had no idea who Deadpool was. (My nerdom has different arcs.) Even from having seen the trailers several times, I cannot say I really wanted to see this film. It looked, well, it looked silly (insert petulant teen-aged eye-roll here). But here’s where publicity, reviews, and star power can win: The buzz around this film was great in the week leading up to it. Ryan Reynolds pitched it perfectly in his media circuit. And people whose views I can appreciate had good things to say (even if one of those things was, “This is rated R + + +.”) (Plus, I’ve been a Ryan Reynolds fan way back to watching him as one of the Two Guys who hung out with that Girl and a Pizza Place (and I never saw Green Lantern, so I wasn’t jaded the way some might be).)
Even persuaded by the buzz, I had my reservations over the film. But I was in. Still, I was a bit surprised that I sorta had to convince my movie companion to give this one a chance. (Come on, we’re talking my Godzilla go-to pal here.) But early February leaves few films as ones I want to see. (Early/mid February being that movie dead-zone time before the 2016 releases of those Oscar movies that have been held for smaller markets such as ours but after the time I’ve seen all the other Oscar films (or after when they were prematurely pulled (I’m still sad I didn’t get to see Carol or Joy)).) Only two were on my list last week: Hail Caesar! and this one, Deadpool. As I was already committed to watching the former, I pushed Deadpool almost as hard as its studio did, convincing this second movie companion with some extra nudging and an NPR movie critic link sent promising a “really funny” “potty-mouthed splatterfest.” He acquiesced. And we had fun! Granted, it was the cringe-worthy kind of fun, making you self-reflect for just a moment at the things you just watched, cheered on, and laughed at. But it was fun.
I did not see this because I’m a Marvel (or DC) fan. As alluded to above, my knowledge of comic books is limited, at best. Fortunately, a couple of days before I saw the film, I did get a briefing on the development of this Marvel character (the good stuff—the stuff about the writers and higher level depth of the franchise and paths things take) and, more importantly, Ryan Reynolds’s push to make the movie. This crash-course helped me not only appreciate the making of the movie and its marketing, but also the development of new characters in the genre. (The briefing was so good that I was even able to pass that knowledge along to another friend the next day, making me feel so much more well-rounded in my pop culture knowledge than otherwise. 😉 )
But knowledge of the character is not at all needed to enjoy the raunch. The movie makes fun of itself in how it introduces the characters (seriously, the opening credits are hilarious—pure self-deprecating fluff I appreciated from the producers who put out there, wrapped in a gaudy bow, the clichés that were coming). It banters about as it tells the story, and it continuously elbows and winks at the audience along the way. And of that story? I actually really liked the backstory here of Wade Wilson. It isn’t pretty; and as gritty as it is, that’s refreshing. (Of course, I suppose many (most? I don’t even know) superheroes come from less-than-glamorous backgrounds, but Wilson’s is particularly bleak.)
No doubt, true fans of the genre have more to say. My reflections are as one not familiar with this area but as someone who loves to be entertained by (or engrossed by) a movie. At its basic element, I suppose this is another revenge film; the setting is different than The Revenant, but you do have someone spending the movie trying to get back at the person who put him in this predicament. But here too, like there, that protagonist learns things along the way. He may not need to execute the revenge completely by the end of his journey. And just maybe, he can appreciate the good that he has picked up.
Expect a full assault on the senses from Deadpool. I’ll even repeat: it’s profane, violent, silly, sexual, refreshing, vulgar, and more—sometimes all at the same time. But I will also say again, it’s a lot of fun!