|
Whatever else you might care to say about “Deadpool,” the long-speculated
“X-Men” spinoff film revolving around one of the less heroic superheroes of
note, the high level of snark and savagery on display, not to mention its
self-aware attitude and relentless shattering of the fourth wall, all but ensure
that few people will confuse it with most other superhero films of late. As
someone whose general disenchantment with the genre as a whole stems in large
part from their essential sameness, this decidedly different approach is
certainly a change of pace and it does energize the proceedings for a short
while. The problem is that even though the film mercilessly criticizes the usual
tropes of the genre, it eventually succumbs to them as well after a while. What
started out as an absurdist tweaking of superheroes films ends up as just
another movie that climaxes with the sight of oddly be-costumed dopes pounding
the crap out of each other. It is a shame because “Deadpool” has the germ of a
good idea and plenty of energy but it just never manages to pull itself together
into the kind of wildly subversive work that it clearly yearns to be.
Our hero, for lack of a better term, is Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds), a one-time
Special Forces soldier who now ekes out a living slapping around low-level
louses who are threatening or harassing decent people while offering up a
relentless stream of sarcastic and highly profane commentary to anyone who
happens to cross his path. One night, while hanging in the local tough guy bar
with other tough guys acting like a tough guy (BTW—he is a tough guy), he meets
Vanessa (Morena Baccaran), a local prostitute who is just as tough and sarcastic
as he is, though blessedly more reserved when it comes to the constant patter,
and it is love at first sight. (Cue one of the stranger courtship montages in
recent memory.) Alas, just after Wade proposes marriage to Vanessa, their
happiness comes to an abrupt halt when he is diagnosed with terminal cancer and
given the life expectancy of a gallon of milk. Lucky for him, a mysterious
recruiter (Jed Rees) comes along with a proposal that is almost too good to be
true—he works for a secret government organization that has developed a formula
that can cure his cancer. Hoping for a miracle but not wanting to put Vanessa
through the pain of watching him waste away if it doesn’t pan out, Wade sneaks
off in the middle of the night without telling her anything about what he is
doing.
As it turns out, the whole thing is too good to be true because instead of a
conventional medical facility, Wade winds up at some dilapidated warehouse where
the sinister scientist Ajax (Ed Skrein) is attempting to create an army of
super-strong slaves to be sold to the highest bidders through the somewhat
dubious plan of submitting his subjects to intense torture until their dormant
mutant powers are finally unlocked or they die. In Wade’s case, he not only
winds up getting cured of his cancer but develops the ability to heal from any
injury to the extent that he is essentially impossible to kill—the downside is
that the treatment has left Wade disfigured enough to resemble a cross between
an ugli fruit and the Incredible Melting Man. After escaping the clutches of
Ajax and his super-strong right-hand woman, Angel Dust (Gina Carano), Wade tries
to return to Vanessa but shies away at the last second for fear of how she will
respond to his new look. Instead, he, with the aid of lone friend Weasel (TJ
Miller) and blind roommate Blind Al (Leslie Uggams), decides to use his new
powers to transform himself into Deadpool, an anti-superhero whose mission is to
track down Ajax in order to force him to fix him up before adding him to the
pile of corpses in his wake. Along the way, his activities attract the attention
of second-tier X-Men Colossus (Stefan Kapicic) and Negasonic Teenage Warhead
(Brianna Hildebrand), who hope to convince Wade to use his abilities for the
greater good instead of simply reducing his enemies to grape jelly.
From the opening moments, which include one of the more brutally honest opening
credits sequences in recent memory followed by the sight of Deadpool decimating
a squad of hired killers while deploying an endless stream of profane quips, it
is quickly evident that this is not your father’s superhero movie (and should
not under any circumstances be the superhero movie for your younger children, no
matter how much they may beg—it is rated “R” for about a billion reasons). This
sequence is probably the best in the film—the action is reasonably well-staged
by first-time director Tim Miller and the balance between the comedy and the
carnage is far more effective than it ever was in those largely hideous
“Kick-Ass.” This is all amusing enough for a little while but all the sarcasm
and brutality and breaking of the fourth wall (Deadpool loves to talk directly
to the audiences and saves many of his most pointed jabs for the X-Men
themselves—both the actual mutants and the cinematic incarnations that
apparently exist in this world as well) can’t quite distract from the fact that
a.) there isn’t much of a story to be had here and b.) what little there is is
on the decidedly thin side. None of the characters are especially
interesting—both before and after his transformation, Wade is just a little too
studied in his obnoxiousness to be entertaining—and since we don’t care that
much about him as a person, it is even harder to care about whether he regains
his true love or defeats his enemies. Furthermore, while the film ostensibly
means to mock the clichés of the superhero genre in the nastiest ways
imaginable, “Deadpool” eventually proves to be as subversive as Spenser’s Gifts
in the ways that it winds up relying on those very same tropes, right down to
the finale for reasons that don’t exactly make a lot of sense at second—hell, at
first—glance.
However, the one element of “Deadpool” that should prove to be even more
decisive to audiences than the gore and wisecracks is the performance by Ryan
Reynolds in the title role, a part that he previously played in a far different
conceptualization in the largely forgotten “X-Men” spinoff “X-Men Origins:
Wolverine.” Although he can be a good actor when forced outside of his comfort
zone (as he demonstrated in the nifty thriller “Buried”), he too often coasts
through his films like a exceptionally smug frat boy with a ready quip or 12 for
every occasion. His performance here is definitely of the latter variety and
while the character may be a better fit for his screen persona than his last
stab at a superhero franchise in the infamous “The Green Lantern,” he will most
likely begin to grate on the nerves of all but his most fervent fans (such
people presumably exist) after a while. Since the entire film has designed as a Deadpool showcase, the other performers are left with little more than scraps
that they can do little with—after a couple of early scenes suggesting that she
is someone not to be trifled with, Baccarin is relegated to the Good Girlfriend
role, Skein makes for one of the most colorless and ineffectual super villains
that I can easily recall and Miller and Uggams are pretty much wasted
throughout. As for Gina Carano as the secondary bad guy, the former MMA fighter
is still an undeniably intimidating physical presence but I will simply suggest
that she has not quite found her instrument as an actress as of yet.
“Deadpool” has its moments of giddy inspiration and my guess is that fans of the
character may well appreciate it more, if only because of the decision to
embrace its definitively hard “R” rating (and once again, I remind parents that
this is not a film for younger viewers at all—you would almost be better off
taking them to see “The Hateful Eight” instead) instead of watering it down into
the usual PG-13 mush in the hopes of bringing in a bigger audience. In short
doses, perhaps as a side character in a straightforward “X-Men” film quipping
away at their oftentimes overly self-serious tone, Deadpool might have worked as
a big screen hero but with nothing to offer other than snide snippiness, both he
and the vehicle designed for him wear out their respective welcomes long before
the end credits roll. Again, it is no “Kick-Ass”—and thank the gods for that—but
it isn’t much of anything else either when all is said and done.
NOTE: That said, if you do see them film, be sure to stick around through the
end titles for the post-credits bonus cookie—the joke is kind of obvious but it
is still pretty funny nevertheless.
|
