For years, it seemed like a Deadpool movie was never going to happen. Fans of Wade Wilson’s manically goofy ultraviolence would have to content themselves with the terrible version of the character from the first Wolverine movie. But then, like a chimichanga descending from heaven, Deadpool actually made it through the Tinseltown gauntlet to the big screen. You probably won’t vomit after taking it into your body.
Fellow Kotaku comics fan Mike Fahey and myself both went to see Deadpool last night. (Not together, though; that way, the odds were better that at least one of us would stay awake.) In the conversation that follows, we talk about the movie’s surprising success and regrettable flaws. Spoilers follow, so you might want to bookmark this for after you’ve seen Ryan Reynolds do his thing.
Evan Narcisse: I’ve never liked Deadpool. He’s the artefact of a time period when a lot of unjustified hype and desperate gimmicks dominated the superhero comics landscape. Even when writers and artists I love have worked on Wade Wilson’s adventures, the results have never moved me. Years ago, I decided that Deadpool was not my cup of tea. But, God help me, I liked the Deadpool movie.
Michael Fahey: I’ve loved Deadpool for years. He’s from a time period when comics were dark and gritty and covered with Liefeld shoulderpads. While all of the other characters were gritting their teeth and firing guns, Deadpool was standing on the sidelines with me, shaking his head and eating a chimichanga. In recent years he’s gotten out of control, and I was worried this movie would be too over the top. But, thank God, it was exactly the right amount of over the top.
Evan: Yeah, a lot of my response to Deadpool comes from the particular moment the movie’s coming out in. Iron Man came out eight years ago. Disney and Warner Bros. are announcing roadmaps for superhero movies they will be putting out half a decade from now. Superhero movies are way overdue for self-satire and tonal variation.
Mike: He’s the perfect character for it. He was born for this. It was either going to be Deadpool or Superhero Movie II. I’m glad we got this.
Evan: I have to acknowledge that a lot of the things that bother me about Deadpool in the comics was in here: horny adolescent potty humour, a tendency to self-congratulation on the material’s own transgressiveness or cleverness and the like. But that stuff didn’t bother me that much in the movie. I think it’s because Ryan Reynolds and the filmmakers were taking the piss out of themselves from, like, the very first frame. I can’t remember the last time I laughed at opening credits like that.
Mike: Oh God, I was not ready for the opening credits. I choked on popcorn. “A Gratuitous Cameo.” “A CGI character.” Not to mention the music playing: “Angel of the Morning.”
Evan: Perfect for ’80s babies like me and you. There was a balance in tone throughout that was genuinely surprising. My biggest beef with a lot of Deadpool comics is that he’s constantly done up as this amalgam of Spider-Man + Wolverine + Bugs Bunny. I rarely wind up caring about the dude under the mask.
But, for all the cliches trotted out in the romance subplot, I actually gave a damn about Wade Wilson and the few people he cared about.
Mike: Though there was a bit too much naked Morena Baccarin for my taste [lying], given the short amount of time they had to set up their relationship, I bought it completely. I know those feelings. I’m pretty sure I’ve told my wife that “our crazy fits”. I am getting a little teary thinking about it. I’ll be OK. I’m in New York this week, away from the family. Emotions. I have them. Still, the moment Wade and Vanessa found out he had cancer, when she was trying to plan ahead and he was just trying to commit her face to memory. Jesus.
Evan: Those beats kinda justify the ultraviolence in a way. Like, this is a Deadpool who is pissed off at the raw deal life handed him and is lashing out. Again, that’s a feeling that’s often missing from the comics, where he’s played more as crazy than angry.
Mike: There were times towards the end when it was played almost too straight. The climactic battle came dangerously close to standard action movie stuff. If not for the presence of the best movie Colossus ever and his dreadfully underutilised teen sidekick, I might have been bored.
Evan: When I first started seeing and hearing about Colossus and Negasonic Teenage Warhead, I was really worried that they would take over the movie. But they were well used as foils for Deadpool. I thought the characterisation of Colossus was a little too uptight, but that’s a minor quibble.
Mike: Have you met Colossus?
Evan: The jokes at the X-Men’s expense were really funny, especially the one about the timeline being all jacked up.
Mike: And how empty the X-Mansion was, as if the producers didn’t have enough money to hire more X-Men.
Evan: One of the things I liked most about Deadpool was the fight choreography. I’ve sat through too many Batman movies where the action is annoyingly hard to read. The camerawork was great here and really made the over-the-top moments sing.
Mike: Right. So we’ve got touching human moments balancing insane superhuman ones, honest emotion balancing immature humour, brilliant choreography balancing ridiculous action — who’d have thought Deadpool would make for such a well-balanced film?
Hell, they even made me feel for side characters that most comics writers used as little more than comic relief. How did Blind Al work so well on film? She had minutes of screen time, but there was a depth to that interaction that was so tangible. And not just in the touching sense. Ahem.
Evan: I did think that the middle flashback sequence to Deadpool’s origin was too long. And I hated the way they fudged with the established pseudo-science of mutant powers.
Mike: Yeah, it was less Weapon X and more… Power Broker. And really the main bad guy was the worst part of the movie. It’s tough to bring a satisfying end to a villain who can’t feel anything and doesn’t seem to care if he lives or dies. But really this movie had nothing to do with him. He was a means to an end.
Evan: Yeah, he left me cold, too. It was too bad they couldn’t make the bad guy feel like anything other than standard-issue, especially for a movie that made a point of thumbing its nose at the genre’s tropes.
Mike: The real battle was inside Wade Wilson all along.
Evan: I think a sequel’s already being written, right? It’s going to be interesting to see how they tackle the problem of being the naughty superhero movie all over again. Gonna be tough to seem like you don’t give a damn when you’re in franchise mode.
Mike: I hear the sequel is going direct to Cable.
Evan: Hahahahaha. I will end this in the only way possible: *makes wanking motion*
Mike: Before we go, you lived in New York City. Know where I can get a stuffed unicorn?
Comments
38 responses to “What We Liked (And Didn’t Like) About The Deadpool Movie”
about bloody time. Seriously how come we gotta wait for the US team to do the Review, surely mark, cambell or hayley or all 3 of you could go an what the movie to review it and leave logan to cover the joint for 2hrs. I mean he does fine looking after the join on saturday and sunday so you surely trust him to look after the sites for a measy 2hrs on weekday
?? The movie came out on Thursday, you’re upset that they delayed the review by 1 working day?
ign had their review up last tuesday and that was a US review, And then theres the fact that even if a movie is released a week early over here, we dont a review until its been done by the US team
edit: it also still sunday in the US so its not a working day
By an unfortunate coincidence our entire team missed the media screening, because it’s out of business hours and sometimes life gets in the way. We may have an Aussie review coming sometime soon though, a bit late maybe but having another viewpoint never hurts 🙂
so i can go ahead an blame logan for you guys missing the screening then 😀
I saw tweets from Serrels that make me want to call bullshit on “missing the media screening”
what I’m hearing is you’re hiring more staff to go sit on their arse and watch movies ? cos that’s a job I can totally do.
As a true comic fan i have to say, this movie was THE best comic adapt-ion i’ve ever seen, it had the perfect balance between the comics over the top-ness and the movies “have to make it semi believable”, Guardians of the galaxy (apart from the ending and nova corp) was a close second.
The story split up as flashbacks worked so well, the limited interactions with the Xmen was almost perfect.
The tiny little in jokes and subtle jibes and even the full on slap to the face jokes were so well done, and there is no way that Ryan Reynolds wasn’t born to play this role he was perfect.
I went into the cinema with a fair amount of scepticism but was amazingly surprised.
Seconded this. If you know the comicbook s (which I do) this is extremely accurate. I really enjoyed the film, especially all the reference to wolverine/huge jackman as well, not to mention all the references to previous dead pool and green lantern too (you see all this in the first 5 minutes or so of the film so nothing being spoiled here)
And for those who don’t know there is post credit scene, don’t leave till all the credits role.
chika chikaaaahThe post-credit scene was a pleasant surprise – I was expecting something, but rather than the usual foreshadowing we got something that was distinctly Deadpool (and very obviously based on something similar from an entirely different movie.)
Same, I was worried that the trailers showed the funny bits and the film would degrade in to cliche, paint by numbers film making.
Imagine my surprise when the content from the trailer was actually the tamest parts of the film.
I was curious how they would capture Wades trademark habits and transfer that to a film, without it becoming silly. Now I just feel silly for worrying, the film is so unapologetic in breaking the rules and succeeds in mocking itself, the marvel universe and reality at such a speed that it can be hard to follow while your chocking on your popcorn.
The crowd reacted more than the did for Star Wars, which surprised me, and as we left everyone had the biggest goofiest grins on their faces.
I know some wont like it, but it was pretty much perfect in my eyes.
Ryan might as well go and legally change his name to Wade Wilson now because that all ill think of when i see him now, just like RDJ as Tony Stark and Chris Evans as Cap
Happy international woman’s day everyone!! xD
Pretty sure that’s on March 8th.
I’m referencing the film….
Mustve missed that part.
Was a rather….. penetrating moment… 😛
I’m pegging he was laughing so hard the tears blurred his vision.
Mustve missed that part.
I really enjoyed it but the origin story was a little confusing. I thought that it was the healing factor combining with the cancer in his brain that made Deadpool insane. Wade seemed plenty crazy before that though.
And I won’t take any criticism of Colossus. That was animated series Colossus on screen. He was perfect.
Actually they played it pretty close to the original. Even that ‘your sense of humour won’t survive in here’ line was, I believe, taken straight from the comic. I actually think the only big differences were that the Deadpool name was actually a bet among the patients at the facility rather than the mercenary bar, and Ajax was a patient at the facility rather than a doctor. Actually, they really downplayed Deadpool’s crazy side for the movie – no internal arguments or voices-in-his-head. I fully agree with this though – that sort of stuff doesn’t translate as well to film, especially for his first movie. It will also give them an interesting narrative for the sequel, and how he deals with the developing psychosis.About the only thing I was disappointed was missing
was the speech bubbles and the multiple personalities, but as you said, the psychosis and stuff could be a developing thing into the next movie.I hadn’t laughed so much at a movie for a while. It was great to see proper violence as well and not toned down pg13 violence.
I’ve only read a few Deadpool comics, but the movie was everything I had hoped for.
I thought it was absolutely brilliant.
My biggest criticism is that the overarching plot wasn’t great, but the moment to moment action and dialogue was fantastic. Ryan Reynolds was made for this role. It really is the breath of fresh air I think the superhero movie genre needs.
Plus, I’m stoked to hear a sequel has been greenlit already (with Cable to boot!)
I said something similar to my GF afterwards.
Strip away the dialogue and the overall plot was actually very mundane, nowhere near the level and scale of some of the other Marvel films. (Fighting a space army that came through a portal, an evil robot who lifts a city in to air etc)
But as you say, Ryan and the flow of action and dialogue completely owns the show, dragging the plot along for a crazy ride.
My only criticism is the the flow was so fast and furious that some of the jokes don’t even have time to settle in before you are laughing at something new.
It also works as a positive because I want to go see the film again, just to enjoy the ride again and take more in.
I agree with this but i did notice that for days after i would just giggle to myself as i remembered a joke.
mt favorite was joke about Professor X
Which one stewert or mcavoy? Lol
Didn’t Like:
The whole lab scene. He was thrown in with some random cocktail that may or may not do something. We knew from Origins that he knew of Wolverine and his power, no reason they couldn’t have said they were going to attempt to splice his gene to cure his cancer. Would have thought that would give him some reassurance that what he signed up for was actually going to work… then use him as a slave. The dirty lab itself felt like some generic research and not part of the Weapon X program too. They could have even had some flashes to his fight in Origins for some continuity (as though he wasnt able to remember correctly), even suggest the extra [silly] powers he got were rejected as the regeneration took over. Have him rise from the ashes of the destroyed power plant. Not exactly true to the comic but it could have worked.
Did Like:
Absolutely everything else. Would have liked to see a bit more of Gina without her strap though.
Deadpool is in a different timeline to Origins: Wolverine. The new timeline forked off from Days Of Future Past, a few years before Origins was set.
My only issue with the movie was the amount of the movie I had already seen from the Trailers. I still liked the movie but I do think I’d have liked it more it I hadn’t seen so much of it already.
At the same time, those trailers really got me hyped and I really loved the marketing so its a catch 22.
Simple fix, don’t go around looking at trailers 😛
Exactly.
These days I’ll watch a trailer of soemthing I am on the fence about seeing, but just on trailer, and if it looks good, I’ll stop watching the trailer.
I enjoy movies much more going in pretty blind.
I know and I blame myself… but its hard not to look.
If Deadpool just manned up earlier and resolved his looks with his fiance no one would have died.
as a non professional marvel fan (i dont read comics, but i read about the comics), Deadpool was amazing. so much dark humour, so much smart assed-ness, so much violence and still they were able to hit you right in the feels in amongst it all.
i did read through one series of Deadpool comics and like someone mentioned above, i hope they bring out the multiple personalities more for the next movie, but i do understand it is a lot harder to portray that on the big screen than it is in comics.
and it did jack me off that the got brought out Deadpool’s latent mutant genes by subjecting him to bullshit scenarios. should have gone the Wolverine tie in route and then used the extra screen time for other hilarious antics.
“i bet ‘it’ feels huge in this” – Deadpool
I’m so goddamn over superhero movies. The Avengers and their whole Marvel crew make me cringe every time they release a new trailer for a new project which sets up the next project followed by the three after that. Ugh.
Then Deadpool comes out and I’m instantly in love. So refreshing. Exactly what comic book movies needed. While I may never enjoy the Avengers, this is a franchise I can get behind.