After inflicting untold and unprecedented misery upon the entire world, 2020 is in dire need of being booted into touch at the end of today – and who better to apply said boot than Deadpool? So here, as the subject of my final Shuker In MovieLand review for this year, is a lesser-known cinematic offering starring him.
After purchasing online several months ago a Region 1 Blu-Ray/DVD dual pack of Once Upon A Deadpool from the States that, sadly, never arrived, getting a refund, then recently purchasing another one of it that, happily, did arrive, on 2 December 2020 I finally managed to watch this interesting departure from the typical pathway trodden by Deadpool movies.
This is because Once Upon A Deadpool, released in December 2016, is a special toned-down PG-13 version of Deadpool 2, starring Ryan Reynolds as Marvel Comics' irrepressible Wade Wilson/Deadpool – my all-time favourite comic book anti-/super-hero and fourth wall demolisher par excellence.
As a massive Deadpool fan, I had already watched and greatly enjoyed the unedited Deadpool 2 (click here to read my Shuker In MovieLand review of it, plus my review of the first Deadpool movie). Consequently, the reason why I also wanted this milder version is that it is actually much more than just that.
For Once Upon A Deadpool contains several hilarious new segments featuring Deadpool reading the actual story of the movie (which is the same as in Deadpool 2) to an adult Fred Savage, who famously starred many years earlier as an unrelentingly nice, sweet-natured child in The Wonder Years TV show. Moreover, this initially unexpected addition is soon revealed to be a wickedly funny parody of the fantasy movie The Princess Bride (1987), which of course opened with Peter Falk telling a sanitised version of the movie's storyline to a young Fred in bed – even the bedroom in which the Deadpool segments are shot is a direct take-off of the bedroom in The Princess Bride.
Being a Deadpool movie, however, there is naturally a twist, which is that Fred is tied down, so he has to listen to Deadpool reading him the story, whether or not he wants to – which he definitely doesn't at the beginning! Priceless, and well worth the trials and tribulations endured by me in obtaining the DVD of this film.
Additionally, despite the veritable avalanche of expletives and mindless violence that so characterize Deadpool movies, Once Upon A Deadpool still successfully entertains with consummate ease even though these twin trademarks are largely absent – an interesting turn of events. Equally interesting - or, to be precise, ironic - is that here in the UK, Once Upon A Deadpool actually received the very same film classification ratings certificate, 15, as the unexpurgated Deadpool 2 did! As my American friends would say, go figure!
If you're a Deadpool fan, or even just a fan of super-heroes in general, you definitely need to see Once Upon a Deadpool – a wonderful addition to the Deadpool movie canon. So, to whet your appetite, click here to view its official trailer, and here to view the delightfully droll opening scene, in which Fred finds himself to be a captive audience of Deadpool – literally!
And 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!
No comments:
Post a Comment