The Sunday Mail
Deadpool’s breaks are funny, crude and offer nicely-placed Easter eggs in the film.
RYAN Reynolds has been playing the role of Deadpool his entire career, both on and off camera.
Blessed with the gift of the gab, Reynolds is certainly worth more ink and paper than the opening of DC Comics’ “Batman v Superman” and its mixed reception.
“Deadpool” is a 2016 American superhero film based on the comic book character of the same name. The film is essentially an origin story that sees the title character Wade Wilson (Reynolds), now retired from the army, set up shop as a mercenary in New York City.
His clientele are the bullied, oppressed and the victims of day-to-day high and mundane crimes; it is not a high paying job but a comfortable enough gig.
The job sees him bump into Vanessa (Morena Bacarrin) whom he falls for and proposes to.
No sooner has he proposed does he collapse and discover he has terminal cancer. Fortune favours him when a recruiter from a secret programme approaches him with the promise of a cure, which he initially rejects but then accepts.
The cure is an experimental drug that awakens latent mutant genes, and it succeeds in healing his cancer albeit with the slight side effect of leaving Wilson permanently disfigured — and indestructible.
This results in a cat-and-mouse game between Wilson, now donning a red suit to hide his scarred body and going by the name Deadpool, and Francis Freeman (Ed Skrien) the owner of the programme.
Freeman, who also goes by the name Ajax, lures Wilson on false pretences as he always wanted to first awaken his mutant genes and then create a super soldier for hire.
While Reynolds’ performance is by far one of the best adaptations of a superhero character, rivalled only by Robert Downey Jnr’s take on Iron Man, the film’s biggest strength — much like in the comics — is its fourth wall breaks.
Breaking the fourth wall is speaking directly to, otherwise acknowledging, or doing something to the audience in film, television, and all other forms of literature. Deadpool’s breaks are funny, crude and offer nicely-placed Easter eggs in the film.
My best bit is when he is dragged to the Professor X’s School for gifted students and he quips, “Which one Stewart or McAvoy?” — an apt nod to the timeline transition from the Bryan Singer and Brett Ratner “X-Men” series to the new and younger take on the franchise.
The X-men play a huge part in the movie, much like in the comics, with the characters Colossus (Stefan Kapicic voice) and Negasonic Teenage Warhead (Brianna Hildebrand) involved in a love-hate relationship with our titular character.
The banter, chemistry and dialogue between these three is a thing of beauty, and is only heightened by the violence that characterises their interactions and the entire film as a whole
There are also a couple of solid supporting acts like TJ Miller’s Weasel and Leslie Uggams’ Blind Al who offer comic relief, while Baccarin — playing Wade’s love interest — is a crucial element of comic book and superhero movie folklore.
Never mind the crude humour, nudity and profanity (hence the R-rating), which fans of such movies secretly crave.
After operating on a budget of US$58 million, the film, released on February 10, has grossed roughly US$746 million at the box office worldwide, making it the biggest grossing R-rated film in history.
Interestingly, the movie did not have a release in China, arguably one of the biggest markets in film, meaning it could have by now surpassed the US$1 billion threshold.
