Deadpool may be a typical origin story from the world of the Marvel’s superheroes but Ryan Reynolds anti-hero and the scriptwriters bring an abundance of hilarity and gruesome violence from the opening credits where no one actor is listed but a spoof line has ironically been used to describe the cast and crew.
We embark on Deadpool three-quarters of the way into the story with Wade Williams AKA Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) about to take on the Evil British Villain Ajax (Ed Skrein), it doesn’t take very long for the X-Men references to emerge as Colossus witnesses Deadpool’s slow-motion blood splattering battle on the TV. Whether he likes it or not Deadpool is actually a part of the X-Men family, an outsider but still part of the family none the less and this is made abundantly clear with Colossus and his trainee Negasonic always popping up when Deadpool is in need of a little bit of firepower.
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On a couple of occasions the scriptwriters have cleverly yet mockingly written in swipes at the X-Men franchise too, the first which see’s Deadpool asking – after being handcuffed to Colossus who states he is taking him to the professor – “which one? Stewart or McAvoy” Later on in the film we see Deadpool arrive at Xavier’s school to add Colossus to his arsenal, talking to camera he states “Considering this is a big house how come we only ever see two X-Men, anyone would think the studio couldn’t afford one more”
But of course, this is an origin story and what better way to tell the back story of this lovable bad boy anti-hero than to use the flashback. We are catapulted back and forth to tell us Wade’s story of how – once a Special Forces operative who has turned to being a hit man for hire with a heart – went from being a semi-normal man who has fallen in love with his badass girlfriend Vanessa (Morena Baccarin) who is his equal in every way to a horrible twist of fate parting him from his love and turning him into the angry, violent and frivolous super anti-hero he has become and his thirst for revenge on the man who has disfigured his beautiful face.
One of the great things about Deadpool is it doesn’t take itself seriously Deadpool constantly refers to the story as being a movie in his narration to the camera and constantly throws in numerous movie references for good measure, especially when he throws in that infamous line from Notting Hill – I’m just a girl standing in front of a boy – well of course swapped around
Reynolds seems to be finally settling into his actor’s skin. He has found his home in Deadpool; he exudes the character so much you simply could not imagine any other actor delivering amusingly ironic and sarcastic lines in that deadpan way of his. He has taken Deadpool and made it his very own. We couldn’t have a superhero film with the villain being British and Skrein does an outstanding job even if Reynolds own bad boy imagine does outshine through no fault of his own.
Deadpool is out in UK Cinemas February 10th