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Wednesday, August 19, 2020

A DEADPOOL DOUBLE-BILL!

Ryan Reynolds as the irreverent, incorrigible, and thoroughly irrepressible Deadpool in the first Deadpool movie (© Tim Miller/20th Century Fox/Marvel Entertainment/Kinberg Genre/The Donners' Company/TSG Entertainment - reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)


Ever since that fateful evening last year when out of idle curiosity I watched on TV the original movie in what is currently a double-bill starring him, the zany anarchic Deadpool has steadfastly been my all-time favourite comic-book/movie super-hero. And here, in my review of both Deadpool movies currently in existence, is why!


Publicity poster for the official DVD of Deadpool (© Tim Miller/20th Century Fox/Marvel Entertainment/Kinberg Genre/The Donners' Company/TSG Entertainment - reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

DEADPOOL

After the stress of laptop internet loss and landline phone loss during the previous two days followed on 8 April 2020 by the still-spasmodic but much-improved internet restoration (phone still incommunicado), I decided that evening that in order to chill out I needed to watch something totally relaxing, without the merest hint of violence, sex, or profanity – so obviously I watched Deadpool! In any case, it was the next movie for me to view in the ongoing X-Men film franchise (#8 of 13, if you're counting). I had watched it for the first time less than a year previously, in June 2019, yet it seemed far more violent and profanity-strewn this time than I'd remembered from back then – but bearing in mind the kind of memory I have, this meant that it WAS far more violent and profanity-strewn. Then I realised that on that previous occasion I'd watched it on TV, so it had therefore been edited for general viewing. Rather than writing a brand-new review of Deadpool, I've decided to recycle my original one, because, after all, we're always been encouraged to recycle more. So here is my contribution to saving the planet – you can thank me later, Greta…

At 9 pm tonight [15 June 2019], Channel 4, a TV channel in the UK, was showing a Marvel Super-Hero movie, or should that be Anti-Hero? For the film in question, directed by Tim Miller and originally released in 2016, was none other than, yes indeed, Deadpool. Having previously read plenty of very troubling, highly contentious, and exceedingly off-putting info about all of this sick movie's gratuitous violence, excessive blood-letting, stomach-churning dismemberment and decapitations, spine-chilling torture, foul language (and did I mention sex too?), naturally I watched it - but enough about all the good stuff…

What I especially enjoyed was Deadpool's consistent and consummately funny breaking of the fourth wall, directly addressing the film audience. This is a clever and highly amusing ploy if performed as it was here by Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool with great verve and aplomb as well as with plenty of corny but hilarious quips that someone like me who was reared upon Frankie Howerd's fourth-wall-demolishing Roman slave Lurcio in the TV series Up Pompeii and its movie spin-off will always readily appreciate.

To describe the plot of Deadpool as OTT would be rather like describing Titanic as a movie depicting a bit of a mishap at sea, but it was joyously rather than tediously OTT, even though the Deadpool origin story section of the movie is undeniably decidedly dark and grim. Suffice it to say that its title character begins as a dishonourably-discharged Special Forces operative named Wade Wilson, who falls passionately for a streetwalker named Vanessa, finding brief romantic happiness with her before he discovers that he has terminal cancer. Out of desperation, Wade volunteers for secret, highly-illegal 'modification' techniques performed by a shady covert establishment led by the enigmatic Ajax (played by Ed Skrein), who promises to cure his cancer, but – as he only learns after Ajax viciously imprisons and tortures him – is in reality a program for creating permanent human slaves with super-hero powers who are then sold by Ajax, an artificially-produced mutant human himself, to the highest bidder.

Wade manages to escape and destroy the establishment in the process, but Ajax also escapes. Moreover, Wade discovers to his horror that although his cancer is indeed cured and he is now imbued with all manner of super powers, the process has left him hideously scarred. This leads him to create a disguise to conceal not just his facial wounds but also his entire identity, enabling him to become an embittered super-hero that he names Deadpool and is hellbent thereafter to seek down and take his full revenge upon Ajax. From here onwards, the movie contains far more black comedy and violent slapstick than earlier, and along the way Deadpool is joined in his quest to track down Ajax by one of the X-Men, the immensely-principled but wholly humour-lacking Colossus (thereby making a wonderful straight man to Deadpool's anarchy), as well as by Colossus's trainee, Negasonic Teenage Warhead, who despite her powers is a typical surly teenager and thus both the source and the target of even more fun and frivolity in her interactions with Deadpool. Interestingly, unlike his appearances in earlier X-Men movies in which he was played by an actor (Daniel Cudmore), here Colossus is a CGI creation, enabling him to be much bigger, encased in steel, and is voiced by Stefan Kapičić.

If I'm honest, although I am quite a fan of the Marvel (and DC) Universe super-hero franchises, I didn't expect to like Deadpool too much, as I'd anticipated it being too dark and humourless - but how wrong can anyone be?? I absolutely loved it - my surprise viewing hit of 2019 so far. The first sequel to Deadpool, Deadpool 2, was released in 2018, and their title character had also made an appearance in an earlier X-Men movie, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, released in 2009. So clearly, there is more Deadpool derring-do out there for me to view. Can't wait!

Meanwhile, if you've never experienced the dark delight that is Deadpool – shame on you! – I heartily recommend that you click here to view an official Deadpool trailer, and here to watch an unofficial one, but containing a selection of the funniest clips.


Publicity poster for Deadpool 2 David Leitch/20th Century Fox/Marvel Entertainment/Kinberg Genre/Maximum Effort/The Donners' Company/TSG Entertainment - reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

DEADPOOL 2

On 28 April 2020 (following TV picture loss problems - what IS it with electronic gadgets and me right now??), I managed to watch Deadpool 2, directed by David Leitch and originally released in 2018, which was much like the original Deadpool movie but with everything stepped up several notches - more violence, more expletives and profanities, more breaking of the fourth wall and in-jokes, more characters, and even more fun.

Having established himself and his super-hero persona in the first film, Wade Wilson/Deadpool (played even more outrageously and uproariously than before by Ryan Reynolds) was able to totally let himself loose on all of these and many other fronts in his typically and sequentially anarchic, laconic, iconoclastic, histrionic, wisecracking, and wholly hilarious, inimitably iconic manner.

After all, what other super-hero would go back in time and shoot dead his earlier incarnation - appearing in the 2009 movie X-Men Origins: Wolverine - because it had received bad reviews from the film critics and cinema audiences?? Or name-check the actual actor (Patrick Stewart) who plays one of the original X-Men? Or open a movie by skewering a small doll in the form of another X-Man (Wolverine - who comes in for further inspired mockery elsewhere in the film, as does the Aussie accent of Hugh Jackman who plays him in the X-Men movie franchise)?

For these reasons, the Deadpool movies are unique within that franchise, not taking themselves remotely seriously, yet actually containing far more violence and expletives than any of the 'serious' entries. Bearing that in mind, I'd be very intrigued to see how the movie makers managed to produce a family-friendly version of Deadpool 2, entitled Once Upon A Deadpool, which doesn't just tone down the rawer elements but also - and which is what particularly interests me about it - apparently takes the plot down some avenues not explored in the normal Deadpool 2 version that I've now watched. Moreover, as a Deadpool and X-Men devotee, I'd definitely like to add it on DVD to my collection of X-Men movies.

However, I am finding it very difficult to track down Once Upon A Deadpool in DVD format (I don't have a Blu-Ray player), except for some exorbitantly priced Region 1 versions available to purchase in the States. I do have a multi-region DVD player, so I can play Region 1 DVDS, it's just that I consider the prices being asked for them on ebay etc beyond a joke, even a Deadpool joke. [December 2020 update: I have now tracked down, purchased, and viewed a reasonably-priced DVD of Once Upon A Deadpool - so check out my review of it here on Shuker In MovieLand.]

As for the standard Deadpool 2 movie, I can thoroughly recommend it. Aided and abetted once again by Colossus and Negasonic Teenage Warhead, we see our (super/anti-) hero confront an unstable youngster named Russell Collins, who turns out to be a mutant with devastating fiery super powers that he decides to use for evil and revenge after having suffered years of abuse at an orphanage. Russell calls himself Firefist, and launches upon a seemingly unstoppable program of havoc and destruction, but he himself becomes a target – relentlessly pursued by Cable (played with impressive physical presence throughout by Josh Brolin), a cybernetic soldier from the future. Cable aims to seek Russell down and kill him in order to change the course of time, in which Firefist would otherwise becomes a serial killer and murder Cable's family.

If watching Deadpool 2 on DVD, do make sure that you check out its Extras too, especially the hilarious short featuring Wade Wilson coming to the rescue of a man being mugged, but deciding to change into his Deadpool costume first, inside a telephone booth in best Superman style - let's just say, things don't go according to plan! And trust me, I know exactly how he feels right now! And don't forget to check out its official trailer here too.

Also, to view a complete listing of all of my Shuker In MovieLand blog's other film reviews and articles (each one instantly accessible via a direct clickable link), please click HERE! 

Ryan Reynolds snapped between takes without his Deadpool mask in the original Deadpool movie (© Tim Miller/20th Century Fox/Marvel Entertainment/Kinberg Genre/The Donners' Company/TSG Entertainment - reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)




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