Wrighting Reviews

                Ladies and gentlemen, my beloved audience that I’m sure is mostly my friends and family, this is a very special Wrighting Reviews.  This time, we’re going to take a look at Deadpool.  The best way to describe this film is simply “a superhero story gone wrong.”  It’s funny, bloody, and has the self-awareness of an angsty teenager.  All-in-all, it’s fantastic.  So hold on tight, because we’re about to get into some serious fourth wall breaking.  Or, at least we would if breaking the fourth wall wasn’t literally what this style of film review was built on.

                Ok, we’re going to jump into the details of why Deadpool is worth seeing in a few moments, but first I want to discuss the production process of Deadpool.  You see, most movies are pitched, given the greenlight, produced, and released.  Deadpool had a…  Different set of stops to becoming a film.  As far back as 2004, the film was in development with Ryan Reynolds, a fan of the character, attached to star.  This is, in fact, why X-Men Origins: Wolverine featured the actor.  By doing the film, Reynolds would fulfill contractual obligations to appear in an X-Men film before getting a standalone film with the character.  After that, he waited…  And waited...  And waited for news.  Later he, along with Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, wrote a script and sent it into Fox around 2010.  Then there was even more waiting!  By 2012, they and director Tim Miller were then given permission to get test footage of a fight.  The test footage wrapped and you’ll never guess what happened next!  MORE WAITING!  You see, Deadpool is a character with a filthy mouth and a violent streak.  Fox was unsure that an R-rated film would be successful, as the audience would be hard to draw in.  So the test footage sat around for years before some mysterious figure leaked the footage to the internet.  Shockingly, no one will own up to this illegal leak that could potentially cost them millions.  The response was so strong, so demanding, that Fox studios finally gave the Deadpool team the greenlight to make a movie.

                Why does all this matter?  It all boils down to one number: twelve.  Twelve years the studio sat on this property.  Twelve years Reynolds was attached.  I can’t commit to a decision on what to watch for more than five minutes and these guys were attached to a movie for over a decade!  Needless to say that this put pressure on the production crew.  When you have fanboys at your back, having promised them a movie twelve years ago, you’re staking over a decade of your life on just over 100 minutes of runtime.  The pressure to create this passion project properly must have been immense, with years of emotional attachment on the line.  Regardless of what this film came out to be, I feel we all should take a moment to reflect on just how committed these men, Reynolds especially, were to this film.  So now we ask the question: Was Deadpool worth twelve years of work?

                The plot of Deadpool is overly-complicated, convoluted, conventional, and self-conscious.  What does all that mean?  It means that we’re dealing with a film that deals with clichés of the superhero genre by immediately flipping them on their head, utilizing the comedy elements of the film well.  Wade Wilson, a professional mercenary with a heart of gold and a wonderful fiancé, finds himself diagnosed with cancer and looking for a cure.  Eventually, he comes across a way to cure himself that comes at a cost he was unwilling to pay.  When he escapes, cured and able to heal at an accelerated rate but disfigured, Wade dons the name Deadpool and seeks out those who have wronged him in order to find a way to fix his hideous disfigurement.  This film has all the typical elements of the superhero genre that any fan of the genre (Including me) can identify from countless other superhero films.  Anti-hero with a good heart (The Wolverine, Iron Man, Guardians of the Galaxy), tragic loss leading to quest for revenge (Captain America: Civil War, Blade, Batman), love interest (All of them.  Just all of them).  The thing about this, however, is that all of these plot elements get flipped on their head.  The anti-hero in this case is a violent psychopath who finds joy in harming others, going so far as to crack jokes as he kills people with some of the most ridiculous tools in all of cinema history (I’d be more specific, but it’s just too hilarious to not go into blind).  The tragic loss is more personal than anything, rather superficial in a way that compliments the merc with a mouth.  There is no element of family as in most tragic stories of superheroes, just a man who feels too ashamed to reveal his grotesque figure to the woman he loves.  Speaking of the woman he loves, she’s a prostitute.  Where most love interests in superhero films are pure and chaste, Wilson’s fiancé Vanessa is a woman whose very profession sexual.  However, this does not define Vanessa for more than a few seconds in the film.  Instead, she proves in mere moments from her introduction to be witty, loving, and incredibly strong through her ability to match Wade in a back-and-forth.  This is a bold departure from the typical idea of the love interest in superhero films, but it works so well.  Additionally, her presence as a full-fledged character with her own will beyond “help the hero” is a refreshing departure from the Mary Janes and the Pepper Pots of cinema.  The plot of Deadpool is typical in a way that is far from ordinary, something you’ve seen but never quite like this.

                Let’s talk visuals because, let me tell you, it’s a mixed bag.  The shots themselves are very well-done, portraying the atmosphere through a mix of color and light that truly draws you in.  When there is loss, the dark lighting and muted colors make you feel desolate and hopeless.  When there is a light moment of playfulness, you feel it through the bright atmosphere and rich color palettes.  The shots are also great, demonstrating how to show the point of view of a character to show their emotion.  When the titular Deadpool is panicked and searching, the camera is shaky and zooming to demonstrate the intensity of the focus.  Tilted point-of-view shots are out of focus, making the audience feel disoriented as Wade begins to pass out.  The presentation is wonderful in terms of the camera.  Likewise, Deadpool’s suit is a treat to the eyes.  The sleek black and red mixed with adjusting eyes and back-mounted swords is so descriptive without have to say a single word.  It looks, to a degree, like the uniform of a soldier without a country; a mercenary for hire for sure.  Reynolds’ physical acting style does not harm it at all, bringing energy to a character who is as manic as a squirrel on cocaine.  However, the CGI is lackluster.  When the X-Men Colossus comes on-screen, I’m incredibly aware that he doesn’t exist.  Likewise, some of the sets are clearly computer-animated.  It’s a shame how this is what holds me back from being fully drawn into the world of Deadpool.  However, I’m aware that the budget of the film was incredibly low.  For that reason, I can forgive the film’s failings and hope that the sequel, which was greenlit on the first day of release, will be given the money to properly handle CGI.  All in all, Deadpool is still a feast for the eyes.

                The sound track of this film is incredible.  I have nothing but great things to say about it as I sit here a week after my last viewing, still humming X Gon’ Give It to Ya.  Before we get to DMX and the rest of Deadpool’s insane music, let’s talk about sound mixing.  It’s hard to get a proper mix, letting the audience hear everything without losing something in the mix.  Sometimes a word of unneeded dialogue will get drowned out by loud music or some song will take a backseat to a good joke.  This film knows how to balance the two.  In fact, the only time one outshined the other was during a montage in which a song about the titular character is drowned out by some of the funniest dialogue in the entire film.  A small transgression, easily overlooked as Deadpool debates whether killing a woman is sexist or not.  Now the real treat…  The music.  I never thought DMX, George Michael, and Juice Newton would go together.  The divide between the three is so vast that the idea alone is laughable.  And yet, this film manages to use each to comic effect without ever making the song themselves feel like jokes.  Shoop by Salt-N-Pepa feels just as at home in this film as a bad review of Transformers does on my review site.  The music in this film is laughable yet respectable, never crossing the line between the two.  It’s really amazing how the sound in the film is so well-done, able to entertain without ever losing the serious elements.

                Re-watch value is one of the most important elements in all of film to me.  I want to be able to watch a film over and over again, catching new things and finding new layers on each watch.  In this regard, I’m sorry to say that Deadpool is lackluster.  I’ve seen the film four times now and, I will admit, I’ve caught new little Easter eggs each time.  A name here, a joke there, always getting a light “Ooooooooh” out of me.  However, the film is rather static in how it’s portrayed.  It’s straightforward and does not have ambiguity to characters or story.  Instead, the entire film is rather played straight.  Now, there are boatloads of little jokes and brief glimpses you can catch of names that were written as jokes.  However, the number of things to catch gets lower each time you watch it.  That’s not to say you shouldn’t see this movie twice or even three times.  Hell, I’d advise seeing it twice in a row: Once by itself and once with commentary.  However, don’t go in thinking you’re going to be able to watch it every week.  The charm will, sadly, wear off.

                Now, this review has a special bonus category I feel we need to take a look at to truly get the full effect of Deadpool: The R-rating.  You see, Deadpool was partially stuck in development Hell for so long due to the reluctance to grant a superhero film an R-rating.  PG-13 tends to make a film much more accessible, especially one of this genre.  However, Deadpool is known for his foul mouth and his bloody tendencies.  The film was ultimately given the R-rating, but how did it use that gift?  Really f^(%ing well, that’s how.  The cursing is abundant and, at points, unamusing.  However, it feels natural to what a character with such a foul mind would say.  I don’t expect him to say “mother hubbard” or “sheesh.”  He is a mercenary for hire and hearing him drop F-bombs like he is at war makes far too much sense.  Additionally, the use of blood and violence is amazing.  There is one scene where he mutilates himself five times over, causing me and the friend I originally saw the film with to cringe.  However, it was a cringe of delight as he acted in a manner that truly suited the character.  There’s sex, cursing, and blood in the film but it’s never there just to be there.  Instead, the film utilizes its R-rating to stay true to the character, keeping him true to the origins of the comics as well as the version on-screen.

                Twelve years, ladies and gentlemen.  Twelve years is how long Deadpool took to make.  Ultimately, though, the film was worth the wait.  The story is highly original for the genre, the style is beautiful and draws the audience in further, the music is absolutely perfect, and the R-rating was utilized incredibly well.  While the CGI may be low-end and the re-watch value is not all that high, the film is ultimately worth getting.  From the opening credits alone, you’ll be left laughing and drawn in, knowing exactly what you’re in for and loving every second.  Happy viewing.