Deadpool

Movie Name: Deadpool

Year of Release: 2016

Director: Tim Miller

Stars: Ryan Reynolds, Morena Baccarin, Ed Skrein, T.J. Miller, Gina Carano, Karan Soni, Brianna Hildebrand, Kyle Cassie, Stefan Kapicic

Genre: Action, Adventure, Comedy

Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 5

Synopsis & Review:

"Deadpool" is another of Marvel's characters to be adapted to the big screen. The character hails from the "X Men" story lines, and is as such, a mutant with an edge. The film introduces us to Wade Wilson, a mercenary with a good heart, who falls in love with a woman who's his perfect match. Wade finds out that he's terminally ill, and voluntarily goes to a program that supposedly can heal and regenerate him. He soon finds out that the program is a shady practice, where humans are tested to develop mutations - after much torture his finally develops not without some serious side effects. He decides to exact revenge on the people who left him for dead, particularly when they also kidnap his former lover.
Tim Miller's debut film, following his work as an animator and director of short features, is a mix bag of dark humor, risque language and a conventional introduction to a comic book character. The film ultimately isn't as different nor as non-conformist as it hails itself to be: the edge of the violence and language aside, the film is very similar in tone to what Peyton Reed's "Ant Man" or Jon Favreau's "Iron Man" were. Where the film is indeed successful is the perfect casting of Ryan Reynolds as the central character. The actor makes the character such a perfectly rapid fire wise cracking hero, that everyone else on this film just ends up looking and feeling a bit like the Colossus character - artificial and contrived. What indeed happens is that when Deadpool isn't on screen, and thankfully that happens only a few times, the film holds little to no interest. The action sequences are well orchestrated and the sense of humor is indeed welcomed, but unlike James Gunn's "Guardians of the Galaxy", the antagonist never feels sufficiently developed, and the remaining characters aren't sufficiently drawn out. Here's hoping the next film comes with a far better screenplay.