Deadpool
Director: Tim Miller
Genre: Action, Adventure, Comedy
Cast:
Ryan Reynolds ,
Morena Baccarin ,
T.J. Miller ,
Ed Skerin , Gina Carino , Stefan Kapicic , Brianna Hildebrand , Jed Rees
Released:
12th February
The first
superhero flick of 2016 comes courtesy of Ryan Reynolds having a second go at
the character of Wade Wilson, aka the "Merc with a mouth"… Deadpool.
First-time director Tim Miller
along with the writing team of Zombieland (Rhett
Reese and Paul Wernick
Being a
comic book character origin story, there's the usual exploration of the
protagonist's life before becoming the hero (or more like an anti-hero in
Deadpool's case). Wade , a former
special ops solider working as a mercenary, has a most unusual introduction to Vanessa (Morena Baccarin Wade
takes up an offer from a creepy "Agent Smith"-type recruiter (Jed Rees ) to enter an
experimental program headed by shady operatives Ajax (Ed
Skerin ) and Angel Dust (Gina Carino Wade
emerges from this program as a very unconventional "hero", who is
determined to remove a greater evil that has wronged him - though not without
spreading love advice to cabbies and having a laugh or two along the way.
Over the
last few years, there has been an increase in comic book hero-origin stories;
therefore, it can be hard for filmmakers to do something original. The story
structure is something different – the timeline is not as linear as in previous
superhero films Reynolds has been involved in such
as X-Men Origins: Wolverine or Green Lantern. Deadpool's origin
story of how he was "made" is intrinsically linked with his present
revenge plan towards those who've done him wrong. In the wrong hands this
arrangement could seem too fractured, however the character's infamous trait of
breaking the cinematic "fourth wall" is used efficiently to connect
the past and present. Deadpool's inner thoughts are frequently narrated to the
audience, sometimes directly into the camera by an on-screen Deadpool. This
commentary displays Wade 's unhinged
psyche as well as bridging the information gaps to the audience, and is a handy
tool in making the character somewhat relatable.
As is
natural for films in this genre, there isn't a lack of visual effects: despite
having a minuscule budget compared to X-Men: Days of Future Past, it
couldn't be made without them. Tim Miller, although a feature film noob as a
director, isn’t a stranger in this department having had previous experience in
visual effects in both video games like Mass Effect 2 and Star Wars:
The Old Republic and in films Thor: Dark World and Scott Pilgrim
vs. The World. His understanding of
this field is evidenced in scenes like the car chases, and achieved by working
with numerous companies like Blur Studio (a company he co-founded) and Weta
(known for The Hobbit, The Hunger Games and Avatar). The
title sequence is a thing of beauty: a 360° panoramic view of crazy action and
"Easter eggs" that pretty much sends itself up by using typical comic
book film clichés. The realism of the visual effects does a really good job of
giving the film an authentic feel within its limited budget without coming off as cheap or tacky.
Deadpool
provides a breath of fresh air in the superhero genre. It is 108 minutes of
well-choreographed action, sassy, almost satirical humour, and most importantly
maximum effort. Reynolds ' championing of a character
dear to his heart has paid off in spades. This film has more than made up for
the character's undeserved fate in X-Men Origins: Wolverine - the marketing campaign alone was
a stroke of genius that could not have worked for anybody else. This is the
anti-hero the world never knew it needed and would not want any other way.