I have to admit that I am not a fan of Deadpool. In fact I hate him nearly as much as I hate his creator, Rob Liefeld. Basically he created Spider-Man with guns and gave him a healing factor like Wolverine. Hardly the most original character around. Spider-Man was always rooted in his own kind of reality where his Peter Parker's morality and sense of responsibility keeps him from doing all the things that Deadpool has no problem with - murder, murder and more gruesome murder. After a few deaths in the comics you just have to keep pushing the envelope to keep interest in the character alive and for me a very little bit of Deadpool goes a long way. He's boring and obvious. I so wanted this movie to fail but as it appears, surprisingly, that someone actually cared about telling a story and Ryan Reynolds found a character he could put all his energy and charm about being. His enthusiasm is infectious and is a big reason for the success of this picture.
Fortunately, the movies are the perfect place to let this kind of character roam free and express every nasty thought he has in his head. It's a solid revenge fantasy turned up to an 11 but the film remains very small in scope. This is not an overstuffed Marvel blockbuster. This style and R-rating also gives Deadpool the opportunity for black comedy by designing some of the best death scenes since Kick-Ass. I love watching guys who can heal basically beat the shit out of each other for no reason because no one is going to win if no one can get killed.
In the end, I had a good time with this violent live action comic book despite myself. The relationship between Deadpool and his favorite cabbie is a Netflix series I would watch everyday for the comedy possibilities alone as is the love story between him and Morena Baccarin.
I was very impressed with Colossus, one of my all time favorite mutants and it's great to see him in action as he's meant to be. He brings much comedy relief to all the mayhem as well and it's only as a Superhero comedy that all this works. Never take your high concept so serious, go full retard on the execution and you will find movie success. This film takes my advice to the extreme.
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8 comments:
Don't forget Rob Liefeld also stole the "burn victim in a bodystocking who wields katanas" from Snake-Eyes, the firearm mercenary in a superhero world from the Punisher and even the name is a knock off of Deathstroke from Teen Titans. It was really Joe Kelly and Ed McGuiness who took the character from one-note 90s character to "Bugs Bunny with guns" that he's loved for being today.
I'm glad you enjoyed the movie. I'm not much for the character either and probably wouldn't have gone if I wasn't invited but it ended up being okay, which for a February release is impressive.
Thanks for giving me more ammo for how I hate creator and creation. But I did enjoy the film too and I was begging to hate it.
I'm not fussy about Deadpool either. To the extent he's meant to be a spoof or send-up of standard superhero clichés, I agree that he is LAME-O. I won't be bothering to see this movie.
You didn't miss much.
Not a fan of the creator or character. But the movie was fun.
Not seen the movie (but I will) and I stopped reading Deadpool a while ago, but...
When Deadpool was a spin-off from X-Force which was good, but Deadpool himself was a pretty bland henchman, and the Liefeld art was terrible, it started to get good. It was all about a Merc who was wrestling with a conscience. The mini-series was drawn by Joe Mad who hadn't quite got into his awesome X-Men style yet, but the art was still great. the story tied into all the Cable and Weapon X stuff and was cool.
But then after a few short mini-series which connected well into the X-panded X-Force stuff (not everyone's cup of tea) the Joe Kelly and Ed McGuinness series started and it was brilliant. the art was great, it was possibly one of the most laugh-out-loud funny comics I've ever read. It tied loads of B-list and lower Marvel characters in, it had continuity. And best of all, just as it was funny and silly, it would turn dark, really dark. And that's what made it a great comic.
They did some wild and whacky stuff which was fun after that, the fights with Bullseye were great, when he was "Cursed with Life" that was great too, and it kept flipping from silly, to action, to quite dark.
Gail Simone was also really good on the book too, but shortly after that, it lost that balance of fun and engaging through meaningful backstory. It ran its course for me, and that's ok, it went on to be more popular than ever, but just not for me.
So track down the Joe Kelly and Ed MCGuinness stuff, I'd be surprised if you didn't like it (knowing/reading about the things that you do like). A lot of my friends weren't into Superhero comics (they got me into Sandman, Preacher, etc), yet Deadpool won everyone over because it wasn't like a Marvel comic, yet the B-list characters made me happy as a long time Marvel fan, with the humour and dark tones.
The special where Blind Al and Wade go back and replace Peter and Aunt May is brilliant, awesome idea, really funny and showed me that I wasn't the only person who thought "what the hell is going on with Norman Osbourne's hair?)
On that recommendation I will look for that Kelly/McGuinness run. I remember one good scene with Wolverine when Deadpool accepts Wolverine's apology by shooting him in the leg after asking him how long he would take to heal from a leg wound. But aside from that, he has an uphill climb to earn my love. The movie earns him a shot.
*thumbs up*
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