DEADPOOL

REVIEWS NO-ONE ASKED FOR
by Ashton Brown

DEADPOOL
dir Tim Miller

DEADPOOL: PARTY LIAISON

Firstly let me make one thing clear. I am a MASSIVE geek. I'm just not a comic book geek. I am a film geek, a gaming geek, a superhero geek. So although this review comes from the perspective of a geek, it doesn't come from a geek who is familiar with the source material.

I was really keen on seeing Deadpool. It had received great reviews. Great responses. I was looking forward to seeing a superhero film that was actually allowed to portray violence, swear, and generally just not give a fuck. After seeing it, I think two things. The first being that although Deadpool is a highly enjoyable film - it certainly doesn't live up to the hype. The second is that the film spends so much time NOT trying to be anything more than it is, that it feels like it tries too hard to be WHAT it is. Yes it has some humerous fourth wall breaking. Yes it has adult humour. Yes it has references and straight up mocking of actors, franchises, the nature of superhero films and glorious moments of being meta. But in not caring about what it is, or being defined by the traditional rules of film making, it feels like it's 'not caring' goes full circle and it turns into trying just a little too hard to prove that it doesn't care.

The story is simple. Guy loves girl. Girl loves guy. Guy gets cancer. Guy can be saved from cancer by being made into a superhero. Guy accepts. Villains happen. Girl gets taken. Guy saves girl. The End. Story-line wise there is nothing new or even overly interesting about it. What sets Deadpool apart from others like it is the way it tells the story. Through dick jokes, blood and decapitations. This is something that is hugely missed from other films in the Marvel franchise and it certainly makes Deadpool an enjoyable two hours as a result. However beyond the excitement and visceral nature of the R16 content, Deadpool doesn't really offer anything else that you couldn't get from any other film in the Marvel Universe.

The things Deadpool does well - it does do very well. Reynolds is exceptionally well cast. Despite just doing exactly what you'd expect Reynolds to do. He doesn't offer any suprises in the role but he does play it with the perfect amount of humour, bravado and emotion. Never does he get too bogged down in a single aspect of the character but instead portrays Wade Wilson with a suitably comic book 3-dimension. If I closed my eyes, it could have been a Van Wilder: Party Liaison spin off. But it works.

As far as exposition goes, the film starts with an action sequence and then cuts back to the origin story. The action in these opening 15 minutes is absolutely spectacular. Beautifully shot and directed and it makes no apologies for using a superfluous amount of slow motion to showcase how sexy and sleek the action is - and it's real great. In fact, it is so great that it's like the film peaks here and for me, this is where the film climaxed. They say as an actor you should never start a scene with the most extremes of your characters emotions being portrayed or you have nowhere to go but down and this is how I felt about Deadpool. It orgasmed in the first 15 minutes and it spent the rest of the film spooning with me. The spooning was nice, but compared to the orgasm it felt like I was just waiting for it to be ready to go again. I can't wait for the sequel. Hopefully it can last the full 2 hours next time.

Overall - Deadpool is good. It's fun. It's edgy. It's brainless and it's entertaining. But for me, it climaxes too early, the fun of it being grown up wears out pretty quickly and it tries too hard to come across as though it's not trying at all.

3 out of 5.