By Preman Koshar || Arts & Entertainment Editor
Deadpool is not your normal superhero film. He isn’t really a hero, and there’s language that would make Captain America’s hair stand on end. But he’s different, and he’s funny, and that’s what informed moviegoers came to see. Ryan Reynolds stars as Wade Wilson (aka Deadpool), a mercenary with a dark sense of humor that falls in love with a woman who somehow matches his weirdness and promptly gets diagnosed with cancer. He goes looking for an alternative type of treatment, finds some psychos, and one thing leads to another and suddenly he’s spectacularly ugly and able to quickly heal any wound inflicted upon him. He is, effectively, immortal. This, combined with his mercenary skills, makes him a surprisingly formidable opponent.
The film does not have particularly stunning cinematography, but it wasn’t noticeably bland or unoriginal, either. It was just there, and it carried the film along without a fuss. It was good enough. The score was a touch overpowered, making some scenes a little more intense than they needed to be or should have been. But, again, in general it was fine, but nothing special. The acting was decent. Ryan Reynolds did a very good job with the deadpan and silly humor and really made Deadpool distinctive as a hero. The more minor performances also complimented each other nicely, but none were amazing by any means. The plot was okay, I guess. It involved a lot of well-enmeshed flashbacks interrupted by gratuitous violence, but it worked, in a weird kind of way. The motivations of both “heroes” and villains were a muddled throughout, but this is, after all, a film about one of the most morally ambiguous superheroes ever created. The screenwriters are going to have to be more adventurous in the sequels, though. The dialogue, however, is where this film shines—high quality insults and phrases abound. I wish I had written some of them down for future use. Every line is quick, and witty, and so very Deadpool. The dialogue is what saved this film, which is somehow appropriate, as it has saved Deadpool’s life on more than one occasion.
All in all, it’s a good start to a franchise, but it could’ve had even more quality dialogue, and perhaps a stronger plot.
Sophomore Preman Koshar is the Arts & Entertainment Editor. His email is pkoshar@fandm.edu.