Deadpool

I was on the fence about seeing Deadpool because Ryan Reynolds is hit or miss with me (I hated The Green Lantern).  However, my officers raved about it when we decorated for the dance (one of them has seen it three times) so I decided to see it last night.  It is an irreverent satire of the superhero genre filled with sex, violence, and profanity.  I loved it!  Oh how I loved it!  I started laughing during the opening credits and pretty much didn't stop throughout the whole movie.  I don't think I've ever written a review focused on the opening credits before but, in this movie, they are brilliant.  With Juice Newton's "Angel of the Morning" underneath, the opening features a super slow-motion sequence from the movie with credits that do not show names but, rather, tongue-in-cheek descriptions of the cast and crew.  It is distributed by Douchebag Films, it stars God's Perfect Idiot, a Hot Chick, a British Villain, Comic Relief, a CGI Character, a Sullen Teenager, and a Gratuitous Cameo, it is directed by an Overpaid Tool, it is produced by Asshats, and is written by the Real Heroes Here.  I laughed so hard I couldn't breathe and the credits set the tone for the rest of the movie which continually makes self-deprecating references to superhero movies from mocking the superhero landing (hard on the knees) to a quip about meeting Charles Xavier ("McAvoy or Stewart? The timeline is so confusing.")  Wade Wilson (Reynolds) is a wise-cracking former member of the Special Forces who now works as a mercenary.  When he meets call girl Vanessa (Morena Baccarin), his wise-cracking equal, they fall in love and decide to get married.  When Wilson discovers that he has late-stage cancer which has spread to the liver, lungs, prostate, and brain (all organs he doesn't need), he leaves her because he doesn't want to subject her to watching him waste away.  He eventually decides to undergo a treatment which will cure his cancer by unlocking dormant mutant abilities.  However, Ajax (Ed Skrein) and Angel Dust (Gina Carano), former patients themselves, have little regard for the torture they put him through and finally resort to a procedure which disfigures him.  Wilson creates the persona of Deadpool, with a mask to cover his face, and goes after Ajax and Angel to get revenge with the help of Colossus (Stefan Kapicic) and Negasonic Teenage Warhead (Brianna Hildebrand) who are trying to recruit him to the X-Men.  The action sequences are fantastic but it is so funny with great physical humor, references to popular culture (I laughed so hard about the Sinead O'Connor reference to Warhead which many in my audience didn't get), and lightning fast dialogue!  Reynolds frequently breaks the fourth wall to talk directly to the audience with hilarious results ("Fourth wall break inside a fourth wall break?  That's, like, sixteen walls!")  With all of the sanitized PG-13 action in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, I give a lot of credit to the filmmakers for going all out with this character.  It's a great movie but I definitely wouldn't recommend it to everyone.

Note:  Stay for a post credits scene spoofing Ferris Beuller's Day Off.  It's hilarious!