DIRECTOR: Tim Miller LEAD CAST: Ryan Reynolds, Morena Baccarin, Ed Skrein SCREENWRITER: Paul Wernick & Rhett
Reese PRODUCER: Simon Kinberg & company EDITOR: Julian Clarke MUSICAL DIRECTOR: Junkie XL GENRE: Action/Adventure CINEMATOGRAPHER: Ken Seng DISTRIBUTOR: 20th
Century Fox LOCATION:
USA
RUNNING TIME: 108 minutes
Technical
assessment: 3.5
Moral
assessment: 2
CINEMA
rating: V18
MTRCB
rating: R16
Pre-Deadpool Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) was a
special forces operative who was dishonorably dismissed. He becomes a hired kill-all-you-can
mercenary who sets no limits how he kills whom, then meets hot chick Vanessa (Morena Baccarin), a hooker with a past as murky as
his. A deadly blend of sex and
sympathy draws them closer together, and then it’s year-round non-stop carnal bliss
for the two. One day, taking a
break from Vanessa’s addictive charms, the otherwise hunky Wilson collapses in
the bathroom and later on is diagnosed to have terminal cancer in his lungs,
brain, prostate, and liver. Desperate for a cure, he leaves Vanessa and agrees to submit
himself to a government funded experimental treatment in the hands of a doctor
named Ajax (Ed Skrein). The experiment not only cures his cancer, but also
gives him superhuman strength and the power to self-regenerate—but he becomes
horribly disfigured in the process.
When he finds out that the “experiment” was actually designed to turn
him into a super-slave, and that his deformity is irreversible, he leaves
Vanessa to spare her from the sight of him dying. Thus, the mask, the superhero costume, and the monicker
“Deadpool”. He then launches a
testosterone-driven hunt for the sadistic guy Ajax who made him uglier than the
phantom of the opera.
As far as CGI action goes, Deadpool is tops; just like any Marvel superhero movie, it aims to
dazzle its audience with new tricks, new choreography, new ways to torture the
enemy, new excuses to bare the hero’s abs—and it does succeed in entertaining
the fans and many film critics.
Reynolds (who didn’t quite hit it with Green Lantern) obviously enjoys being Deadpool, spewing witticism,
sarcasm and adults-only expletives, and trying to be funny in the middle of hacking
an opponent to death. He also
enjoys baring his abs and that forbidden region south of his navel in a bid to
maximize the movie’s R rating.
Unlike most movies with a high body count, Deadpool makes no attempt to disguise the gore, so that when heads
are axed and torsos impaled and sliced like watermelons, well—you see red all
over the screen.
Towards
the end, Deadpool attempts a
redemptive message—love sees beyond the externals—but coming after 105 minutes
of the protagonist’s undiluted badassery, it feels put on. Deadpool the character has been
described as “technically
a superhero, but one with a mean streak and a potty mouth.” (Just how potty is potty? Please refer to http://www.christiananswers.net/spotlight/movies/2016/deadpool2016.html). Deadpool himself is dead
right when he says “I am not a hero”, so what is he? A pathetic cancer victim who finds love too late and is
therefore to be pitied? A
wisecracking murderer who enjoys killing people to heal his wounds? A superhero figure reimagined for box
office profits is more like it, proven by the gimmick as the credits roll—Reynolds
reappearing minus the Deadpool costume, chiding the audience to go home. Talk about cutesies. Don’t say we didn’t warn you.
