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Ryan Reynolds without mask, still with sense of humor.
BThe mantra, “With great power comes great responsibility,” has become the theme, not just of Spider-Man, but of virtually every other modern-day movie and comic superhero as well. They may be all-powerful, but they rarely have much fun. Against such a backdrop of gloom and angst, Deadpool, the character, as well as the movie, is a gloriously excessive, frequently delightful exception.
Deadpool, the character, begins life as Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds), a cocky, profanity-spouting, quick-witted “merc(enary) with a mouth.” When he is diagnosed with terminal cancer, he leaves his hooker girlfriend Vanessa (Morena Bacarin) and undergoes a radical experimental treatment he thinks can cure him. Instead, the treatment turns Wade into a horribly disfigured mutant with remarkable healing powers. Wade escapes from Ajax (Ed Skrein), an arms dealer who devised the treatment and wanted to sell Wade as a superpowered slave. Then, as the costumed Deadpool, Wade seeks his revenge against his former captor.
Although Deadpool‘s origin story is as grim as they come, the movie itself is a lighthearted romp, thanks to Ryan Reynolds, who never takes his role seriously, and a script that’s filled with self-aware references and quips. Reynolds breaks the fourth wall frequently, addressing the audience directly and poking fun at himself and the entire Marvel Comics universe in the process. Deadpool is the first film in years that lets Reynolds take full advantage of his fast-talking, snarky wit, and the movie’s R-rating means that much of the humor is hilarious yet unprintable. That rating also allows first-time director Tim Miller to cram the action scenes with stylishly shot, slow motion gore and carnage. However, Deadpool treats Wade’s romance with Vanessa (a character who is as quick-witted and foul-mouthed as Wade) seriously enough to keep the movie from becoming totally silly. Still, Reynolds’ non-stop barrage of foul-mouthed humor wears thin after a while. Fortunately, the final showdown, pitting Deadpool and a couple of mutant allies recruited from the X-Men franchise against Ajax and his superpowered henchwoman Angel Dust (Gina Carano), provides just the right blend of humor and action. That blend makes Deadpool unlike any other comic superhero film out there and may well breathe new life into an increasingly overwrought and predictable genre.
In this scene, Ryan Reynolds and allies prepare to take on the villainous Gina Carano. Our full review of Deadpool is now available on Silver Screen Cinema.
Photo credit: “Ryan Reynolds” by dtstuff9 / Flickr / CC BY-SA 2.0
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