Subversive. Daring. Antihero. Naughty. If you've heard anything about this movie, these are some of the words you've heard slung around. And while Deadpool is anything but your typical Marvel fare, I'm not sure that even half of its hyped-up, commercialized descriptors are accurate. It's rude, crude, fast, and furious, to be sure, but its fevered hilarity is about the only thing that makes the film work.
Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds), diagnosed with cancer, seeks a cure from a shady figure that leaves him scarred and imbued with superpower; he spends the rest of the movie seeking revenge and to reclaim his love interest (Morena Baccarin). That's it. That's the plot. Nothing subversive. Nothing novel or intriguing. But then, the skeletal plot is surely necessary for its tone to shine through, carried with madcap grace by its star. Screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick have done a rather remarkable thing in crafting the film's rakish, jokey tone. Maybe I'm just not used to this kind of comedy, but the rapid-fire dialogue, outrageous one-liners, campy fourth-wall breaking, and meta references are far more engaging and entertaining than any of the action sequences.
Of course, the movie sells its tone far more successfully than any of its particular jokes. Sure, there are several gems delivered by a pitch-perfect Ryan Reynolds. But the vast majority of quips and jabs fall like rain on a flood; I mean, there are really only so many times you can hear queerbaiting dick jokes in a movie before it gets annoying. In fact, director Tom Miller and his team seem to be desperate to make us like the movie, firing so many consecutive "money shots" (as Deadpool would say) at us that sometimes I found myself laughing at the sheer audacity of Marvel rather than any particular feature on screen. My favorite scene to this end was the one in which Deadpool attacks Colossus (made of metal) and ends up shattering his limbs in the process. It's that kind of self-aware, violent charisma that is so intoxicating, I found myself crying from laughter for minutes afterward.
For all its tonal naughtiness, though, there is little else noteworthy here. And maybe there doesn't need to be. The Deadpool we see is anything but an antihero, and there's nothing particularly subversive or profound going on. Where we all might have hoped for a turning of tables, a film in which the superhero genre was cast aside and mayhem ensued, what we get is a straightforward origin story with a heteronormative (albeit sexually confident and adventurous) hero who, though he is a fan of violence and murder, is justified in terms of the film and earns the sympathies of the audience.
Maybe a sequel will do those things. Maybe this one just had to stretch the mold before it makes a life of its own. Maybe I should just be happy that this movie succeeds where all too many other superhero movies fail. Maybe I should just be happy that this one doesn't take itself too seriously. Maybe this is the superhero movie we deserve, but not the one we needed right now. Maybe I got that backwards.
IMDb: Deadpool
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