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A Maximum Effort Double Feature

Deadpool (2016)


As a relatively new fan of Ryan Reynolds and his movies, I had no pre-established knowledge about him or the Marvel Comics character Deadpool, save for seeing Reynolds as the much-maligned first attempt at the character's screen debut in 20th Century Fox's X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009). Upon recognizing the critical and commercial praise for the subsequent retry of the character (again starring Reynolds as a more comic-accurate version of the character) in Deadpool (2016) and Deadpool 2 (2018), I thoroughly enjoyed the R-rated experience, which I eventually watched on Disney+ (with its newly-implemented mature content filter). Therefore, I have decided to review both films given the recent release of the much-anticipated Disney and Marvel Studios-produced threequel Deadpool & Wolverine (2024). Spoilers will be covered, as usual, so this is your heads-up.


Deadpool follows its titular unreliable narrator, the snarky and foul-mouthed freelance ex-mercenary and anti-hero Wade Wilson, a.k.a. Deadpool (played by Ryan Reynolds), who, after being diagnosed with terminal cancer, is persuaded by a mysterious figure to undergo an experimental treatment for his cancer at a shady laboratory run by the sadistic mutant Francis Freeman a.k.a. Ajax (played by Ed Skrein). While the treatment gives Wade super-healing powers to counteract his cancer, it leaves his skin and body permanently disfigured, and he is left for dead by Ajax. Now donning the alias Deadpool, complete with a red-and-black suit and dual katana swords, Wade sets out on a revenge mission to find the people responsible for disfiguring him and later kidnapping his girlfriend Vanessa (played by Morena Carlysle). What follows is an irreverently hilarious, violent, and memorable entry in 20th Century Fox's X-Men film series (pre-Disney acquisition).


This movie fires on all cylinders from the get-go with the hilarious opening credits, which list Ryan Reynolds as "God's Perfect Idiot", the film's screenwriters, Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, as "The Real Heroes Here", and the director, Tim Miller, as "An Overpaid Tool". From there, we meet our titular fourth-wall-breaking anti-hero as he is on his way to the action sequence during which the opening credits take place. Speaking of whom, Ryan Reynolds was born to play Deadpool (or was Deadpool born to play Ryan Reynolds?). His mile-a-minute quips and irreverent charisma make him the perfect person to play the character. He also shares incredible comedic and personal chemistry with the cast and characters around him, like Carlysle as Vanessa, Brianna Hildebrand as X-Men trainee Negasonic Teenage Warhead, Stefan Kapičić as X-Men member Colossus, Leslie Uggams as Blind Al, Deadpool's roommate and Karan Soni as Dopinder, a taxi driver whom Deadpool befriends.


Reese and Wernick's script and jokes for this movie are hilarious. The countless gags (verbal and visual, and as crass and raunchy as can be), set-ups, and pay-offs come at the audience at such a rapid-fire pace that it can become overwhelming to some but sidesplitting hysterical to others. Regarding my opinion on the humor, I was more than alright with it, as I knew (for the most part) what I was getting and thus quickly embraced it. It also helps that Reynolds' countless adlibs align entirely with the already strong script, highlighting their evident close-knit working and personal relationship. Simultaneously, the movie does not forget to have emotion, for, during the scenes when Wade is diagnosed with cancer, the characters and tone are taken seriously to give the movie a sense of emotional urgency and connection to the characters as well as to create a balance between the comedy, which is done quite well here.


Going back to the humor, no subject or aspect within this cinematic universe is safe from Deadpool's signature sarcasm and snarky remarks. For instance, when told by Colossus that he is going to speak to Professor Charles Xavier, Deadpool references the two actors who have famously played Professor X (Sir Patrick Stewart in the original films and James McAvoy in the prequel films as a younger Xavier):

"McAvoy or Stewart? These timelines are so confusing."

He also takes the time to reference the movie's $58 million budget compared to the average $100-$200 million budgets of the usual X-Men movies:

"It's a big house. It's funny that I only ever see two of you. It's almost like the studio couldn't afford another X-Man."

Moving on to his movie's action sequences, they are viscerally taut and filled to the brim with gory yet comedic violence that should make audiences squirm while laughing uncontrollably, which is best exemplified by a sequence set on a freeway. Yes, most of these scenes are enhanced by computer-generated imagery (CGI, for short). Yet, given that this is a comedic and self-reflexive comic book movie, I did not mind its presence in the film. I found the CG here to be well-utilized and well-directed, a testament to director Tim Miller's skills in visualizing and directing animation-heavy sequences.


As for this film's negatives, the villains are pretty standard and not especially interesting character or personality-wise. While serviceable, they took a backseat to Deadpool, his friends, and those he jokes around with. I am fine with this, as they were never meant to steal the show or anything like that. Also, storywise, the plot is pretty basic when stripped of its fourth-wall-breaking unreliable narrator and nonlinear storytelling, other than being a straightforward revenge story. However, I was perfectly fine with this aspect as this movie was Deadpool's redemption from his botched first big screen debut in 2009 to his proper introduction to the general public. On a villain-related side note, there is a post-credit scene where Deadpool parodies the famous post-credit from Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986), where he tells the audience to go home before hinting to them that the character Cable will be in the sequel.


Overall, Deadpool is an excellent R-rated watch from beginning to end, from its relentlessly raunchy and funny jokes and its gleefully self-aware take on the superhero genre to its titular anti-hero with jokes and comedic and anarchic chaos to boot. However, if you have kids who want to complete the entire X-Men film series and want to see this movie and its sequels, please talk to them about why they should wait until they are older or why they must be accompanied by adults while watching the film(s). Did the sequel deliver with the laughs and action? Keep on reading to hear my thoughts on it.


Final Score: 8 out of 10



Deadpool 2 (2018)


Having enjoyed the first Deadpool movie, I was naturally looking forward to seeing the sequel on Disney+. Did it deliver with the laughs? Thankfully, yes. It also delivered more emotion than I expected, which is more than welcome here. Without further ado, off we go with this spoiler-filled review of Deadpool 2.


Deadpool 2 takes place two years after the first movie and follows Wade Wilson, a.k.a. Deadpool (again played by Ryan Reynolds), who, while celebrating his anniversary with his girlfriend, Vanessa (played by Morena Carlysle) and discussing making a family, gets ambushed in their apartment by a target whom Wade failed to kill earlier in the film, who, when trying to off Wade, accidentally kills Vanessa in the process.


Fun fact: Deadpool's fourth-wall-breaking humor is double-downed here, especially during the opening credits immediately following Vanessa's death, which roll with humorous titles criticising the previous scene like "A Film by Wait a Minute!", "Produced by Did You Just Kill Her?", "Presented by What The F***?", and "Directed by One of the Guys Who Killed the Dog in John Wick", all while set to the original song "Ashes" performed by Céline Dion.


Wade falls into a deep depression, and tries to commit suicide, but is unable to given his super-healing abilities. Deadpool is then recruited by Colossus (played by Stefan Kapičić) to join the X-Men, and after reluctantly agreeing, the team (made up of Wade, Colossus, and Negasonic Teenage Warhead (played by Brianna Hildebrand)) are called to help de-escalate a stand-off between the police and an unstable mutant named Russell Collins, a.k.a. Firefist (played by Julian Dennison) at an orphanage where he was being abused. After Wade kills one of the orphanage handlers, both he and Russell are arrested by members of the Ice Box, a prison for mutant criminals, where they are transported to and restrained with power-suppressing collars. Soon, the time-traveling cybernetic soldier Cable (played by Josh Brolin) arrives from the distant future and breaks into the Ice Box with the intent to kill Russell, who would eventually grow up to become a serial killer who kills Cable's family. Now, Deadpool and his friends have to stop Cable from killing Russell, while Wade wrestles with the subject and theme of families and found families.


Ryan Reynolds shines again as Deadpool, as his snarky charisma, lightning-quick wit, and adlibs have not slowed down in any way. Although, at some point, the mile-a-minute quips can come as tonally jarring given the seriousness of a few scenes (more on that later). However, Reynolds' leading man charisma is still too irresistable for me to dislike him or the character. He also puts his dramatic acting skills to use, especially following the scenes after Vanessa's death, which is a welcome change of direction, to allow more room for the audience to feel more emotion for Deadpool.


Moving on to the new characters, Josh Brolin brings a rugged physicality and plenty of no-nonsense 'tough guy' energy to Cable, a mostly antagonistic role meant to serve as a counter personality-wise to Deadpool's relentlessly sarcastic and snarky attitude, which can be best exemplified by this hilarious line from Deadpool in response to one of Cable's insults shutting down another joke from Deadpool about dubstep:

"You're so dark. Are you sure you're not from the DC universe?"

However, following Deadpool's self-sacrifice by taking his bullet intended for Russell, Cable is moved by Wade's actions, and thus sacrifices his plan to travel back to see his family again to time-travel one more time to save Deadpool's life, thus reviving a part of Cable's humanity which had once been lost to him.


Julian Dennison's performance as Russell is vulnerable and sympathetic, given his history of being abused by the orphanage headmaster and staff, yet holds his own in terms of crass remarks and foul language with Deadpool. Also, his indirect role in convincing Deadpool to think of more than himself and find a family as Vanessa wished worked quite well here (with mostly good payoff).


However, two of the breakout stars from this sequel are undoubtedly Domino (played by Zazie Beetz), a mutant who can manipulate luck to her benefit (the action scenes featuring her are arguably the best ones), and Peter (played by Rob Delaney), a regular person who sees Wade's ad promoting auditions for joining Deadpool's new superhero team X-Force, and is quickly accepted by Deadpool.


Domino's back-and-forths with Deadpool about luck being a superpower are amusing, which adds a fun and new (and almost sibling-like) dynamic not previously found in a Deadpool movie. Simultaneously, it is a shame that her character was not asked to return for Deadpool & Wolverine (2024), for I would have loved to have seen more of her.


Regarding Peter, Delaney injects an everyman likability to this minor role, and is easily one of the more likable new characters, whom you cannot help but feel sorry for when he gets offed along with most of the X-Force members (including that of the invisible Vanisher (played by Brad Pitt, in a hilarious split-second cameo) in a graphic but shockingly hysterical manner.


The rest of the returning cast and characters deliver as well, like Leslie Uggams as Blind Al, Karan Soni as Dopinder, Stefan Kapičić as Colossus, and Brianna Hildebrand as Negasonic Teenage Warhead. In this movie, Colossus gets more involved with the story, for he continues to convey his desire to encourage Deadpool to make himself a better person by finding a family to join, which I admired here. Negasonic Teenage Warhead returns with her deadpan humor, and with a girlfriend, Yukio (played by Shioli Kutsuna), whose sweet nature makes for a surprisingly good personality match with Negasonic.


This movie, as hinted at earlier, was directed by David Leitch (one of the co-directors of John Wick (2014)), after original director Tim Miller departed from the project because of creative differences with Ryan Reynolds. The difference between the two directors is evident, from the use of a grittier visual aesthetic and for certain sequences, a blue-green color palette (as opposed to the original movie's digitally-neutral color palette) to a heavier emphasis on larger-scaled stunts and action sequences that rival that of the previous film.


Specifically, there is an extensive action sequence in and around the prison-transfer convoy on a freeway transporting Russell and other mutants involving Deadpool and the remaining members of X-Force (Domino and Deadpool) as they fight other mutants like the physically imposing Juggernaut (also played by Ryan Reynolds) and crash the convoy through traffic and public infrastructure.


As for negatives, there are times where Deadpool's jokes can interrupt an overall dramatic scene like the one where Wade takes the bullet meant for Russell while wearing the power-suppressing collars from earlier. While the entertainment seeker in me was enjoying the comedy to contrast the sadness of the scene as he is dying, I would have liked a little less jokes as he deliberately kills the mood by making additional comedic remarks. Also, while the amount of characters within this film is obviously larger, this movie can be overwhelming with the amount of characters and jokes, some of which might fly over others' heads or not land as well as the ones from the first movie.


In conclusion, Deadpool 2 is a solid sequel that delivers laughs and action and then some (mostly) to the film's benefit. While, at times, it got a little too jokey, I remained consistently entertained by this sequel. As the last sequel produced under the 20th Century Fox label and regime before the completion of Disney's acquisition of the film studio and its entertainment assets in 2019, this, in hindsight, felt like a good way to leave the creative door open for possible sequels and spinoffs within that universe.


That said, the post-credit scene where Deadpool takes and uses Cable's time-traveling device to not only save Vanessa and Peter from their demises, but to go back in time to kill Ryan Reynolds before he accepted the titular role in Green Lantern (2011), and to the events of X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) to kill off the universally-panned version of Deadpool, which features this surprisingly prophetic line from Deadpool to that film's Wolverine (played by stock footage of Hugh Jackman):

"Look, eventually, you're going to hang up the claws and it's gonna make a lot of people very sad...but one day, your old pal Wade's gonna ask you to get back in the saddle again...and when he does, say yes."

If that is not clever foreshadowing for the Marvel Studios-produced threequel Deadpool & Wolverine, I don't know what else is.


Final Score: 8 out of 10

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