Opened: 10 February 2016
Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Morena Baccarin, Ed Skrein, T. J. Miller, Gina Cara, Brianna Hildebrand
Director: Tim Miller
Producers: Simon Kinberg, Ryan Reynolds, Lauren Shuler Donner
Rating: ★★★★½

Deadpool is the breakout movie Ryan Reynolds has been pushing through production hell for the last ten years, and had to salvage from the frustratingly terrible X-Men Origins: Wolverine. It is testament to Reynolds' belief in this project that it got made, with no censorship from the money men and that he stayed on as lead. His turn as Hannibal King in Blade Trinity confirmed to most comic book fanboys that he was the only one that could do the ‘merc with a mouth’ justice. This role is just as vital to his career as his performance is to the movie, much like other Origins alumnus Taylor Kitsch, Reynolds has had a run of stinkers and near misses. All that is forgotten now, this is a role he was born to play.

Make no mistake, this is not your daddy’s comic book superhero! Deadpool is as self aware as he is anarchically funny, being sacrilegious of almost every rule in every book and not remotely interested in being your hero. Neurotic, emotional and hiding behind a mask of quick witted self effacing humour Wade Wilson is the most relatable super dude in the Marvel comic universe.

It’s a straight up love story of guy meets girl, guy gets cancer, guy leaves girl to pursue treatment, guy is instead tortured and left horribly disfigured but with the ability to heal any wound… Guy goes on crazy killing spree of his tormentors and his ex gets caught up in it all. If you add in the crack dealing blind land lady, brilliantly choreographed ultra violent action, a unicorn fetish, the relentless filthy comedy and a totally creepy baby hand (really!), it all comes together as one tough act to follow for the rest of the 2016 franchise movies.

The script is tight and skilfully delivered by Reynolds - it is 100% his movie. Don’t feel too bad if you don’t understand every reference because plenty of them are old enough or wildly obscure enough that only a handful will be able to get them. Brownie points for those who can!

The supporting cast and production are great but if there is one gripe it would be X-Men metal-head Colossus. So two-dimensional is the character and his CGI rendering that it makes him a weaker foil for Deadpool’s clowning. No doubt he was chosen because he is duller than a Josh Trank Fantastic Four movie and not due to feature in the forthcoming X-Men Apocalypse. He can also take a beating, which is an advantage in this story. For future movies he definitely needs some attention. The lumpy CGI look is okay this time round because it’s not yet connected up with the other X-movies, but with plans for an X-Force movie on Fox’s development table it needs attention before the next outing.

As Guardians of the Galaxy before it, anyone who had read the Deadpool material knew it could be a slayer at the box office so it’s no ‘surprise’ success to them. And I am sure no surprise to Mr Reynolds who must be very pleased with himself for sticking by it. A very wise decision, Deadpool could well be the franchises replacement for Wolverine. As the posters promise Deadpool really is: Bad ass, smart ass, great ass!