Mr. Movie: ‘Deadpool’ is what superhero movies should be
Deadpool is the exceptional superhero movie. I don’t tend to like them. Personality crises and clashes with nondescript villains that end with a planet, country or city destroyed has grown boring beyond belief.
That is not the case with Deadpool. None of the above happens, and that helps.
Ryan Reynolds is Wade Wilson, a former special forces op who takes care of the stalkers of young girls and women. Wilson meets and falls in love with Morena Baccarin’s (TV’s Gotham) Vanessa. Learning that he has cancer, Wilson submits to “special” treatment by an organization operated by the villainous Ajax. His face is mutilated, and Wilson becomes immune to life-threatening bullets, knives and other weapons.
Conflict with Ajax and his group ensues as Deadpool — as Wilson calls himself — seeks vengeance.
Reynolds is the first actor I know to change comic book sides. He played Wilson in 2009’s Wolverine and then landed the role as D.C. Comics icon Green Lantern. He is as flip, funny and fun here as Green Lantern was dull and boring. So no wonder when he got the second Deadpool call, Reynolds leaped.
Tossing off brilliant one-liners with ease, Reynolds has a blast with the character. It doesn’t hurt that first-time director Tim Miller and the producers surround him with actors having just as much fun in their roles. Most notable is comedian T.J. Miller (Cloverfield), who plays a wonderfully low-key comic turn as Wilson’s bartender best friend.
Deadpool is what Spider-man should have been. He was the smartest, fastest and funniest of the Marvel stable, but the humor never made it to the big screen in either version.
Deadpool does.
This is the rare movie where you wish you’d been a fly on the wall when it was written. Writers Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick (Zombieland) and Miller start with the funniest opening credits in history and keep up the comic pace through Reynolds’ ending outtake.
Pay attention. You won’t want to miss a single line.
Deadpool
Director: Tim Miller
Stars: Ryan Reynolds, Morena Baccarin, T.J. Miller, Gina Carano, Stan Lee, Ed Skrein, Brianna Hildebrand, Stefan Kapicic, Leslie Uggams, Jed Rees
Mr. Movie rating: 5 stars
Rated R for mature themes, sex, drugs and language. It’s playing at Regal’s Columbia Center 8, the Fairchild Cinemas 12 and Queensgate 12 and at Walla Walla Grand Cinemas.
5 stars to 4 1/2 stars: Must see on the big screen.
4 stars to 3 1/2 stars: Good film, see it if it’s your type of movie.
3 stars to 2 1/2 stars: Wait until it comes out on DVD.
2 stars to 1 star: Don’t bother.
0 stars: Speaks for itself.
This story was originally published February 11, 2016 at 1:07 PM with the headline "Mr. Movie: ‘Deadpool’ is what superhero movies should be."