Thursday, August 16, 2018

Deadpool

Deadpool; fantasy action thriller comedy, USA, 2016; D: Tim Miller, S: Ryan Reynolds, Morena Baccarin, Ed Skrein, T.J. Miller, Gina Carano, Brianna Hildebrand, Stefan Kapičić (voice), Andre Trixoteux

Deadpool attacks a convoy on the street in order to kill his nemesis, Francis, but the latter flees. Deadpool then digresses about his past: as Wade Wilson, he was a cynical mercenary who started a relationship with prostitute Vanessa. However, Wade found out he has cancer and thus decided to undertake an experiment in a laboratory, led by Francis, where he would be cured by getting mutant genes in order to be recruited by an unknown group. Wade was cured, but became disfigured and vowed revenge against Francis by dressing up as a masked anti-hero, Deadpool. Back in present, Vanessa is kidnapped by Francis' men. With the help of 8ft tall mutant Colossus and human torch Negasonic Teenage Warehead, Deadpool is able to save Vanessa and kill Francis.

"Deadpool" seems like an outburst of resistance against the "safe" superhero movies that reigned during that era, particularly the big budget Marvel franchize, in the form of one giant, untrammelled, cynical metafilm dark comedy that takes all those superhero cliches and then deconstructs and twists them until they are turned out into something new. When a movie starts off with opening credits that convey pure written parody ("Some Douchebag's Film", "Starring: God's Perfect Idiot", "A Hot Chick", "A British Villain", "Directed by An Overpaid Tool"), using one colossal camera drive inside a still frame in the middle of a "frozen" action sequence and is equipped with the fantastic song "Angel of the Morning" by Juice Newton, one already gets the impression this is not going to be one of those 'run-of-the-mill', predictable mainstream films. If "The Avengers" are a merry-go-round, "Deadpool" is a roller coaster: writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick act almost as Jerry Lee Lewis, not caring if they destroy everything as long as they have a blast and offer insane energy to the audience. A lot of credit should also be given to Ryan Reynolds, the creative mind behind this project who managed to get this unusual film going.

The story is controversial since the anti-hero swears, is cynical and naughty, yet its level of creativity is staggering, insomuch that it somewhat amends a lot of its flaws or misguided decisions. One of the funniest moments is after the experiment, when Wade, whose face is now full of scars, wrinkles and disfigurement, appears in front of his friend, Weasel, who says this insane line: "Your face looks like Freddy Krueger had sex with a topographical map of Utah". Deadpool's arguments with the depressive 'Goth' girl Negasonic Teenage Warhead also have a lot of sly wit ("Fake laugh. Hiding real pain..."). One highlight scene, near the finale, even has a wounded Deadpool having a hallucination of his girlfriend, Vanessa, lying on the floor, and all of a sudden animated little animals show up around her, including a unicorn, a bird and a heart sign—pure genius. "Deadpool's" biggest flaws are the occasional numbing, splatter violence, a couple of too cruel moments or an excess of pop-culture references, ranging from Ferris Bueller to Limp Bizkit, which can get 'off-topic' and stray way too far from the focus of the real plot. However, its real characters are sheer fun and unpredictability, to such an extent that it seems as if the movie itself does not know what they might do in the next scene.

Grade:+++

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