Director: Tim Miller
Writers: Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick
Stars: Ryan Reynolds, Morena Baccarin, T.J. Miller
Synopsis: A wisecracking mercenary gets experimented on and becomes immortal yet hideously scarred, and sets out to track down the man who ruined his looks.
No one thought Deadpool would happen.
Okay fine, maybe Ryan Reynolds did, but to the rest of the world, it felt like an unrealized pipe dream that only existed as a reality in the imaginations of fans and comic readers. Not for lack of trying, as in 2009, an attempt was indeed made to bring the “Merc with a Mouth” to the big screen in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, a movie whose sole legacy is now to be remarked upon as one of the biggest miscalculations in comic book movie history, particularly when it came to Deadpool, as a silent, mouth-sewn assassin with an amalgamation of mutant powers and none of the defining traits of the character. Reynolds, as well as every single fan of the character, was incredibly unhappy with the movie and the representation of Deadpool, and proceeded to completely disown Origins as a whole.
On paper, Deadpool is a risk and then some. The character is far from family-friendly, and has an array of expletives, twisted humor, pop culture references and visceral violence up his sleeve at every given moment. There is no way to effectively pull off the character on screen without an R rating, a major concern for any studio looking to make profits. And yet, one viral leak of a spectacular test sequence later with Reynolds as Deadpool mercilessly and hilariously laying waste to a bunch of gangsters in a car on a crowded freeway–which may or may not have been released to the world through the man himself, we will never know–that pipe dream became a potential reality, and after some time of lobbying and demand, 20th Century Fox (for only another three years, guys, sorry) finally flipped a coin and greenlit Deadpool, and in 2016, that movie graced theaters on the eve of Valentine’s Day weekend.
Defying all odds, Deadpool immediately became a success with both critics and audiences, even becoming the biggest R-rated movie at the time with $782M in grosses, and for good reason. Reynolds, along with director Tim Miller and writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, realized the dream, bringing the absolute best version of Wade Wilson and his tight-red spandex alter ego to the big screen, unfiltered and untethered, breaking the fourth wall in more ways than one, from its now infamous opening credits that pokes fun at everyone from its stars to the studio executives themselves, Deadpool sometimes breaking the fourth wall within another fourth wall break–“that’s like 16 walls”, as Wade remarks–and putting bullets in the heads of bad guys and skewering them with his katanas as violently and brutally as possible, with a heavy dose of style and charisma. The cherry on top: getting the character to do something that didn’t happen the first time in X-Men Origins: Wolverine…talk! Every crass remark, abusive word, pop culture reference you can expect to hear from him makes its appearance here, expertly so, realizing the character even more effectively and flawlessly. If ever a course correction and love letter was needed for Deadpool, this was the best version of one.
What also makes Deadpool work, however, was its balance of the morally grey line Wade walked. A mercenary-for-hire who never thinks of himself as a hero, seeing his romance eventually with Vanessa (Morena Baccarin) and the genuine love between them grow–thanks in part to an outrageously funny and appropriately raunchy sex montage set to Neil Sedaka’s “Calendar Girl”–and the tragedy that comes from his cancer diagnosis and wanting to find a cure, leading to a mysterious program run by a sadistic and petty doctor named Ajax/Francis (Ed Skrein). Then, a procedure that turns him into a deformed but invincible mutant, all the way to eventually taking on everyone who wronged him while making his way to Ajax, leaving a trail of bodies in his wake and acting against every heroic principle, Reynolds portrays Deadpool perfectly, channeling the character exactly like the comic counterpart before him. He proves one of the best casting choices for a comic book character, as even his next two entries, Deadpool 2 and Deadpool & Wolverine, have showcased. Toss in a few more memorable characters like Negasonic Teenage Warhead (a wonderful Brianna Hildebrand), Colossus (Stefan Kapičić) and the hilarious Blind Al (Leslie Uggams)
10 years on, it’s easy to look back on Deadpool and take for granted what a watershed moment it was for comic book movies. At a time when studios were afraid to take a more mature route and risk an R-rating, the Merc with a Mouth accomplished the impossible, leading to more efforts like Logan the year after. On paper, the narrative of Deadpool is simple: a revenge story and wanting to gain the love of your life back, but the movie’s strength is in pulling that off in the best way that it needs to. Miller’s movie doesn’t need to be a bonafide masterpiece to be a perfect movie in its own regard, and Deadpool certainly is that. Maximum effort!
