Review of Deadpool (2016) by Austin S — 29 May 2017

I vacillated so hard on the rating for this one. So let's do the math on how I came to the final conclusion:

This gets 5 stars for Ryan Reynolds alone. For his dedication to getting the movie made and made right, for his fantastic performance, for just how much milk he got out of the film in terms of special appearances and some brilliant advertising moves.

It loses a star because it's ... not... really... that good of a story. I'm sorry. It's just that when you take away the comedy (and there's a LOT of it), it's a pretty by-the-numbers superhero movie, complete with damsel-in-distress. Now mind you, even there there were things to love, such as seeing that ultra-rare DiD, the one capable of *doing things for herself* to assist in her own escape and in the defeat of the villain. Brilliant... but yeah, still DiD, which I just consider lazy.

It gains a star for its self awareness, from the opening credits to the self-directed jab about only having two X-Men to the brilliant recreation of a certain after-credits scene in the after-credits scene.

It loses a star because goddammit, stop stalking your girlfriends, heroes. It's not romantic, it's weird and creepy. And also makes it even worse when you decide not to reveal yourself and fuck her over in so doing. Bad superhero movie. Bad.

It gains a star for the "Are You There God" reference *alone*. In a superhero movie. Fan.freaking.tastic.

Conclusion: in the end I still love this movie to bits despite its flaws. I hold out high hopes (and expectations) for the sequel. And in the meantime, I try and stretch out viewings of this one because I don't want to "wear it out", as is easy to do with favorite movies, and each time I do allow myself to watch it, I find myself laughing just as hard as the first time.